William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire
The Duke of Ormond | |
---|---|
Succeeded by | William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire |
Lord High Steward for the Coronation of Queen Anne | |
In office 22 April 1702 – 23 April 1702 | |
Preceded by | The Baron Somers |
Succeeded by | The Duke of Grafton |
Personal details | |
Born | 25 January 1640 |
Died | 18 August 1707 | (aged 67)
Spouse | Lord James Cavendish |
Parent(s) | William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire Elizabeth Cavendish, Countess of Devonshire |
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire,
Life
Cavendish was the son of
He was re-elected MP for Derbyshire in the two elections of 1679 and in 1681. He was made a privy councillor by Charles II, but he soon withdrew with his friend Lord Russell, when he found that the Roman Catholic interest uniformly prevailed. In January 1681 he carried up to the House of Lords the articles of impeachment against Lord Chief Justice William Scroggs, for his arbitrary and illegal proceedings in the court of King's bench, and later when the king declared his resolution not to sign the bill for excluding the duke of York (afterwards James II), he moved in the House of Commons that a bill might be brought in for the association of all his majesty's Protestant subjects. He also openly denounced the king's counsellors, and voted for an address to remove them. He appeared in defence of Lord Russell at his trial, and after the condemnation he gave the utmost possible proof of his attachment by offering to exchange clothes with Lord Russell in the prison, remain in his place, and so allow him to effect his escape.[1]
The famed political philosopher Thomas Hobbes spent the last four or five years of his living at Chatsworth House, owned by the Cavendish family, and died at another Cavendish estate, Hardwick Hall in December 1679. He had been a friend of the family since 1608 when he first tutored an earlier William Cavendish.[3][4]
In 1684 he succeeded to the peerage as Earl of Devonshire on the death of his father and then sat in the House of Lords.[2] He opposed the arbitrary acts of James II until his enemies found an excuse to neutralize him; after an imagined insult by a Colonel Colepepper, Cavendish struck his opponent and was immediately fined the enormous sum of £30,000. He was unable to pay and was briefly imprisoned until he signed a bond (which was eventually cancelled by King William). The earl went for a time to Chatsworth House, where he occupied himself with the erection of a new mansion, designed by William Talman, with decorations by Antonio Verrio, James Thornhill, and Grinling Gibbons.[1]
Cavendish was a strong supporter of the "
Cavendish was given an honorary M.A. by the University of Cambridge in 1705.[5] The year before he had ended the successful career of the singer and dancer Mary Campion. She is thought to have given her last performance on 14 March 1704 (and she may have been the daughter of one of his servants). Cavendish installed her as his mistress at Bolton Street in Westminster despite already having several mistresses already, a number of children by them and of course Lady Mary Butler, his wife.[6] They had a child named Mary Anne Cavendish before Mary Campion died of a fever on 19 May 1706. Cavendish surprised many by having her buried in the family church in an extravagant tomb. He did not attend her funeral and he died, some say in repentance, the following year.[6]
Family
Cavendish married Lady Mary Butler (1646–1710), daughter of
- Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (1670–1741), married Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet of North Elmsall, and had issue
- William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (c. 1672 – 4 June 1729)
- Lord Henry Cavendish (1673 – 10 May 1700)
- Lord James Cavendish(died 14 December 1751)
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911, p. 130.
- ^ a b History of Parliament Online - Cavendish, William, Lord Cavendish
- ^ "Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)". BBC. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
- ISBN 0199247145.
- ^ "Cavendish, William (CVNS705W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ required.)
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh (1911). "Devonshire, Earls and Dukes of s.v. William Cavendish, 1st duke of Devonshire". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 130–132. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the