At that time, he handed over the Sunderland estates to his younger brother John, but he did not obtain Blenheim Palace until Sarah, the dowager duchess, died in 1744.

[1] On Thursday, 14 July 1737, Marlborough captained his own cricket team in a match against the Prince of Wales' XI on Kew Green.

He was one of the original governors of London's Foundling Hospital, the foundation of which in 1739 marked a watershed in British child care advocacy and attitudes.

Following the Capture of Emden in 1758, he led the British expeditionary force sent to join Ferdinand of Brunswick's Army of Observation on Continental Europe, but died the same year, leaving command to John Manners, Marquess of Granby.

However, an autopsy revealed he would have died not long after, as his lungs were ravaged by the consumption that had killed his mother and sister.