Godolfin, William, Marquis Blandford

In 1712, Francis Godolfin inherited the title of 2nd Earl of Godolfin, and his eldest son and prospective heir received the title of Viscount Realton . He was educated at Pembroke College in Cambridge .

On June 9, 1720, Hugh Boscauen, a member of the House of Commons from Penrin County, received the Viscount Falmouth title and became a member of the House of Lords . On June 24, 1720, the Viscount Realton was elected to his place in the House of Commons , as a member of the Whig Party. Viscount Falmouth was the grandson of parliamentarian Francis Godolfin (1605–1667), and his wife was Charlotte Godfrey, daughter of Arabella Churchill . In 1722, he again ran for the House of Commons from Penrin County, but lost the election.

June 16, 1722, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough , maternal grandfather of the Viscount Realton, died. According to a special act of Parliament, the new Duchess of Marlborough was his eldest daughter, Henrietta Godolfin, Countess Godolfin . William Godolfin took the title of Marquis of Blandford, becoming the heir to the ducal title of his mother, as well as the count's title of father. On August 21, 1727, he was elected to the House of Commons from Woodstock County.

On April 25, 1729, Lord Blandford married Mary Catherine de Jong (1695-1779), daughter of Peter de Jong, mayor of Utrecht . Isabella de Jong (1694-1769), Mary's sister, became the wife of Earl Denby. On August 30, 1730, the Marquis Blandford became an honorary doctorate in civil law at the University of Oxford .

Lord Blandford died in Oxford from apoplexy on August 24, 1731 . John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont , noted in his diary that the death of the Marquis was probably caused by binge. Since he had no children and not a single surviving brother, his cousin Charles Spencer, 5th Earl of Sunderland, became the heir to the ducal throne of Marlborough. Lord John Spencer, Earl of Sunderland's brother, was elected to Parliament on January 22, 1732 to replace the Marquis of Blandford. The county of Godolfin was left without an heir, but Lord Francis Godolfin received the barony in 1735 , which allowed distant relatives of the Godolfin clan to inherit the count's title.

Lady Blandford remarried on June 1, 1734, to a deputy from the Tory party, Sir William Wyndham (1688-1740). She was widowed on June 17, 1740 and died on September 7, 1779 .

• William Godolphin, Marquess of Blandford , thepeerage.com