Henry Cavendish (politician)
Sir Henry Hardwick Cavendish | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Derbyshire | |
In office 1572–1596 | |
Preceded by | Robert Wennersley |
Succeeded by | John Harpur |
Personal details | |
Born | 1550 Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury |
Sir Henry Hardwick Cavendish (1550–1616) was the eldest son of the Tudor courtier
Early life
Henry Cavendish was born in Dec 1550, the eldest son of the politician and courtier Sir
On 9 February 1568, at the age of 17, Cavendish married Grace Talbot, the eight-year-old daughter of his stepfather. The marriage took place in Sheffield, but it was not a happy union and the couple had no children.[3]
Upon attaining his majority, Cavendish received the income from the lands settled upon him by his father, income which had until then gone to his mother, who had been granted his wardship.[3]
Career
Military service
As a young man Cavendish "won repute as a soldier",
Politics
Cavendish entered politics in his early twenties, becoming the
Mary Queen of Scots
In about 1585, Cavendish was living at
Travels in the East
In 1589, Cavendish went on a trading journey to Constantinople. In his account, which still survives among the Hardwick manuscripts, he described the city of Venice as "a most foul stinking sink".[3]
Personal life
Despite being the eldest son, Cavendish was disinherited by his mother, from whom he had been long estranged. When her marriage to her fourth husband, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, fell into difficulties, Cavendish was able to revenge himself upon her by siding with his stepfather against his mother.[3] Bess of Hardwick referred to her eldest son as "my bad son Henry".[5] Instead, his younger brother William, later the First Earl of Devonshire, would inherit those estates his mother controlled.
Unhappy in his marriage, Cavendish pursued extra-marital liaisons, and was popularly known as "the common bull of Derbyshire and Staffordshire".[3] He fathered at least 8 illegitimate children, including
- Henry Cavendish (1590-1626)
- Anne (Cavendish) Lowe. Anne married Vincent Lowe, Esq., of Denby, Derbyshire, sometime before 1614, and had a large family. Her grandson Colonel Henry Lowe emigrated to Maryland and became a planter and politician. [6]
Bess of Hardwick died on 13 February 1608, and it appears that Cavendish did not attend his mother's funeral. Long estranged, he received nothing from her in her will.[3] However, he did inherit Chatsworth after his mother's death, but without its contents; as a result he sold the estate to his brother William the following year.[3]
Death and legacy
Cavendish died on 12 October 1616 at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, England. The Cavendish Memorial, a magnificent early-17th-century church monument to Henry and his brother William, can be seen in St Peter's Church, Edensor, Derbyshire, where he is buried.[3]
References
- D. J. B. Trim, ‘Cavendish, Henry (1550–1616)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 25 Sept 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes.
- Dictionary of National Biography (Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900) http://search.Ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=dictnatbiogv1&h=83215&ti=5544&indiv=try&gss=pt Death: 1616
- Cavendish, Margaret. The Life of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle (John Russell Smith, London, 1872) Page 196-7
- Henry Cavendish at the History of Parliament retrieved 7 August 2018
Notes
- ^ a b c William Cavendish profile, Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- ^ George Talbot, Dictionary of National Biography Retrieved 21 January 2019
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Henry Cavendish at the History of Parliament retrieved 7 August 2018
- ^ Fissell, Mark Charles, English Warfare, 1511-1642 Retrieved 23 January 2019
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography Retrieved 22 January 2019
- ^ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013), vol. IV, page 380, PINCHBECK 20, Henry Cavendish] Retrieved 3 August 2023