Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire

Geoffrey Shakespeare
Geoffrey Shakespeare
Personal details
Born	6 May 1895; Conservative
Spouse	Lady Mary Gascoyne-Cecil
Children	William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington; Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire; Lady Mary Cavendish; Lady Elizabeth Cavendish; Lady Anne Tree;
Parents	Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire; Evelyn Petty-Fitzmaurice;
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire,

House of Cavendish. He had careers with the army and in politics and was a senior freemason. His sudden death, apparently of a heart attack at the age of fifty-five, occurred in the presence of the suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams

.

Early life

He was born in the parish of St George in the East, Stepney, London, the son of Victor Cavendish and his wife, Lady Evelyn Petty-Fitzmaurice. In 1908, his father Victor succeeded as the 9th Duke of Devonshire, thus Edward was styled by the courtesy title Marquess of Hartington. Lord Hartington was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[1]

He was, after his father's death, the owner of Chatsworth House, and one of the largest private landowners in both Great Britain and Ireland.

Military career

The then Marquess of Hartington began service with the

Territorial Army as a second lieutenant in the Derbyshire Yeomanry in 1913.^[2]

Mobilised at the outbreak of the

First World War, he was an aide-de-camp (ADC) on the Personal Staff^[3] at the British Expeditionary Force's General Headquarters. In 1916, when promoted captain, he rejoined his regiment, in Egypt, and served in the latter stages of the Dardanelles campaign. He then returned to France, became attached to Military Intelligence, then to the War Office and the British Military Mission in Paris, and was twice mentioned in despatches.^[1] In 1919 he served on the British peace delegation that attended the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and was appointed MBE.^[1] He also became a knight of the French Legion of Honour.^[1]

He continued serving after the war with his regiment, which became 24 (Derbyshire Yeomanry) Armoured Car Company of the Royal Tank Regiment in 1923. He was promoted major in 1932, and became lieutenant colonel in command in 1935.^[3] He was awarded the Territorial Decoration.^[1] He was also Honorary Colonel of the 6th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters from 1917 to 1937, and of its successor, the 40th (Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion of the Royal Engineers.^[3]

Political career

He unsuccessfully stood as a Conservative parliamentary candidate twice, in the

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, for India and Burma (1940–1942) and for the Colonies (1942–1945).^[1]

He also served in Derbyshire local government. He was appointed a

Buxton in 1920–21.^[4]

Marriage and children

In 1917, he married Lady Mary Gascoyne-Cecil, granddaughter of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. They had five children:^[5]

William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington (10 December 1917 – 10 September 1944), killed in action in World War II; married Kathleen Kennedy, sister of John F. Kennedy
Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire (2 January 1920 – 3 May 2004), married Hon. Deborah Freeman-Mitford, youngest daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale
Lady Mary Cavendish (6 November 1922 – 17 November 1922)
Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Alice Cavendish (24 April 1926 – 15 September 2018)
Lady Anne Evelyn Beatrice Cavendish (6 November 1927 – 9 August 2010), a prison visitor; married Michael Lambert Tree^[6]

The Duke's sister Dorothy was married to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. The Duke's younger brother Charles was married to dancer Adele Astaire, sister of Fred Astaire.

Death

On 26 November 1950, he suffered a heart attack and died in

Edith Alice Morrell – another patient of Adams – had also died. Historian Pamela Cullen speculates that as the Duke was the head of British freemasonry, Adams – a member of the fundamentalist Plymouth Brethren – would have been motivated to withhold the necessary vital treatment,^[8] since the "Grandmaster of England would have been seen by some of the Plymouth Brethren as Satan incarnate".^[9] No proper police investigation was ever conducted into the death, but the duke's son, Andrew, later said "it should perhaps be noted that this doctor was not appointed to look after the health of my two younger sisters, who were then in their teens";^[7]

Adams had a reputation for grooming older patients in order to extract bequests.

Adams was tried in 1957 for Morrell's murder but controversially acquitted.

Robert Boothby at the time.^[11]

Home Office pathologist Francis Camps linked Adams to 163 suspicious deaths in total, which would make him a precursor to Harold Shipman.^[7]

The Duke's body was buried in the churchyard at

Edensor, Derbyshire

, near Chatsworth.

Estate

In 1946 the Duke transferred most of his assets to his only surviving son in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the heavy

National Trust, and the sale of many of the Devonshires' accumulated assets, including tens of thousands of acres of land, and many works of art and rare books.^[12]

Whilst the majority of the Duke's property transferred to the next Duke, his private funds of £796,473 8s. 9d. were willed to his widow Mary Alice, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Who Was Who, 1941–1950. A & C Black. 1952. p. 310.
^ Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1916. Kelly's. p. 714.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Official and Landed Classes, 1948. Kelly's. p. 626.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1948. Kelly's. p. 626.
^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003
^ Eve Colpus, 'Tree, Lady Anne Evelyn Beatrice (1927–2010)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2014; online edn, Jan 2015 accessed 20 April 2017
^
ISBN 1-904027-19-9
.

^ Cullen, pp. 97–101.
^ Cullen, p. 100.
^ Devlin, Patrick. Easing the passing: The trial of Doctor John Bodkin Adams, London, The Bodley Head, 1985.
^ Cullen, p. 617.
^ "GREAT BRITAIN: Death and Taxes". Time. 26 August 1957. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Duke of Devonshire

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Frederick White	Member of Parliament for West Derbyshire 1923–1938	Succeeded by Henry Philip Hunloke
Political offices
Preceded by Douglas Hacking	Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs 1936–1940	Succeeded by Geoffrey Shakespeare
Preceded by Sir Hugh O'Neill, Bt	Under-Secretary of State for India and Burma 1940–1943	Succeeded by The Earl of Munster
Preceded by Harold Macmillan	Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1943–1945	Succeeded by Arthur Creech Jones
Honorary titles
Preceded by Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire	Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire 1938–1950	Succeeded by Sir Ian Walker-Okeover, Bt
Masonic offices
Preceded by Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood	Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England 1947–1950	Succeeded by Lawrence Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough
Academic offices
Preceded by Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire	Chancellor of the University of Leeds 1938–1950	Succeeded by Mary, Princess Royal
Peerage of England
Preceded by Victor Cavendish	Duke of Devonshire 1938–1950	Succeeded by Andrew Cavendish

[WWW-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Who Was Who, 1941–1950. A & C Black. 1952. p. 310.

[kelly1-2] Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1916. Kelly's. p. 714.

[kelly2-3] Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Official and Landed Classes, 1948. Kelly's. p. 626.

[kelly-4] Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1948. Kelly's. p. 626.

[5] Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003

[annetree-6] Eve Colpus, 'Tree, Lady Anne Evelyn Beatrice (1927–2010)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2014; online edn, Jan 2015 accessed 20 April 2017

[Cullen-7] 
ISBN 1-904027-19-9
.

[8] Cullen, pp. 97–101.

[9] Cullen, p. 100.

[10] Devlin, Patrick. Easing the passing: The trial of Doctor John Bodkin Adams, London, The Bodley Head, 1985.

[11] Cullen, p. 617.

[12] "GREAT BRITAIN: Death and Taxes". Time. 26 August 1957. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011.

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v t e Dukes of Devonshire
Barons Cavendish of Hardwick	William Cavendish, 1st Baron Cavendish of Hardwick (1605–1618)
Earls of Devonshire	William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire (1618–1626) William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire (1626–1628) William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire (1628–1684) William Cavendish, 4th Earl of Devonshire (1684–1694)
Dukes of Devonshire	William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire (1694–1707) William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (1707–1729) William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire (1729–1755) William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (1755–1764) William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (1764–1811) William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1811–1858) William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire (1858–1891) Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire (1891–1908) Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire (1908–1938) Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1938–1950) Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire (1950–2004) Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire (2004–present)