Lord Alan Spencer-Churchill

Unlike his two elder brothers, upon leaving the Army, Lord Alan eschewed a political career and chose instead, unusually for people of his class, to go into business. His association with Peter Rolt (1798-1882), merchant and Conservative MP for Greenwich, led to his involvement in international trade and to a number of company directorships, in the then burgeoning sectors of shipping and tourism. Among his interests were the importation of beef from Argentina as well as shipbuilding at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, and the establishment of freight transport networks, for example, through the British and South American Steam Navigation Company.^[5] He entered tourism through the hotel venture that was the new Imperial Hotel at Torquay.^[6][7][8]

As was the convention for people of his class at that time, he divided his life between business and clubs in London and the pursuits of a country squire. In August 1852 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Oxfordshire,^[9] the location of the family seat at Blenheim Palace, which passed to his eldest brother, John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough.^[10] Alan Spencer-Churchill was for many years patron of the Chelsea Relief Society, founded in 1861.^[11]

He died suddenly at his home in Lowndes Square, London, aged 47 years, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery.^[12]