Albertha Frances Anne Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, VA (née Lady Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton; 29 July 1847 – 7 January 1932) was an English aristocrat.
Early life.
She was born the sixth daughter and tenth child of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, and Lady Louisa Russell. She was known to her friends and family as 'Goosey' and had a reputation being highly respectable, but a practical joker.
As a young woman, aged 18, Lady Albertha Hamilton was one of eight train bearers at the wedding of The Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein on 5 July 1866 at Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England.
Marriage and issue.
On 8 November 1869, Albertha married George Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, eldest son of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough. This was in defiance of the wishes of George's dominating mother, Frances Anne Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, who disliked Albertha and described her as "stupid, pious and dull". 
The wedding was held at the Westminster Abbey and was a double ceremony for the Hamilton family, where her sister Maud Evelyn Hamilton married Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne. The wedding was attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales and Albertha received a wedding gift of a "valuable Indian shawl" from Queen Victoria.
They had four children:
Her husband was a member of the Marlborough House Set of the Prince of Wales and was involved in a society scandal known as the "Aylesford Affair." Heneage Finch, 7th Ear of Aylesford cited Blandford as co-respondent in his divorce petition against his wife Edith Peers-Williams, due to their affair. They had an illegitimate son together. Albertha and her adulterous husband lived separately after 1875 and signed a formal deed of separation in 1878. 
Later life.
On 20 November 1883, shortly after Blandford inherited the dukedom following the death of his father, the couple were divorced on grounds of Blandford’s adultery, cruelty, and desertion towards his wife. Afterwards, though still entitled to be addressed as "Albertha, Duchess of Marlborough", she preferred to use the title she had used throughout most of the couple's married life and was known as "Albertha, Marchioness of Blandford".
She died in 1932.
References.
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