Hon. Augustus Cavendish Bradshaw (17 February 1768 – 11 November 1832), of

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, Surrey and High Elms, near

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, Hertfordshire, was an English politician, best remembered today for his role as co-respondent in the Westmeath divorce case of 1796.

Family

He was born a younger son of

Sir Henry Cavendish, 2nd Baronet Sir Henry Cavendish, 2nd Baronet PC (29 September 1732 – 3 August 1804) was an Anglo-Irish politician noted for his extensive recording of parliamentary debates in the late 1760s and early 1770s. Early life Cavendish was the son of Sir Henry ...

of Doveridge Hall, Derbyshire and

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tre ...

, Dublin and his wife Sarah Bradshaw, 1st Baroness Waterpark, and was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. He adopted the additional name of Bradshaw to comply with the will of his maternal grandfather Richard Bradshaw.

Career

He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Carlow Borough in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two cham ...

from 1790 to 1796. He was an MP for

Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...

in the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

from 13 March 1805 to 1812 and for Castle Rising from 1812 to February 1817. From 1812 until his death he was a Groom of the Bedchamber in the service of the Prince Regent, later King

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

, and then to King

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

. Despite this office, he is said to have been living "hand to mouth" in his last years. He spent much of his time lobbying to be appointed to any lucrative office which happened to be vacant, but Government after Government gave him a cold reception. The general view, even in an age when patronage was taken for granted, was that his character and habits disqualified him from any public office, especially one concerning the public revenues. He was described as a "pretty, little, thin, delicate man."

Marriage and scandal

He died in 1832. He had married in 1796 Maryanne, the daughter of James St John Jeffereyes of

Blarney Castle Blarney Castle ( ga, Caisleán na Blarnan) is a medieval stronghold in Blarney, near Cork, Ireland. Though earlier fortifications were built on the same spot, the current keep was built by the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty, a cadet branch of th ...

by his wife Arabella Fitzgibbon, the divorced wife of

George Nugent, 7th Earl of Westmeath George Frederick Nugent, 7th Earl of Westmeath PC (18 November 1760 – 30 December 1814), styled Lord Delvin until 1792, was an Irish peer. He gained notoriety in his own lifetime, due to his unhappy first marriage to Maryanne Jeffries, which e ...

. The divorce, on the grounds of Maryanne's

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

with Bradshaw (which was not seriously disputed), had aroused huge public interest and the associated action for

criminal conversation At common law, criminal conversation, often abbreviated as ''crim. con.'', is a tort arising from adultery. "Conversation" is an old euphemism for sexual intercourse that is obsolete except as part of this term. It is similar to breach of pro ...

brought by Lord Westmeath (this was then a necessary first step towards obtaining a divorce) resulted in large damages being awarded against Bradshaw in favour of the Earl, although it is unlikely that the money was ever paid, given Bradshaw's chronic lack of funds. There were no children. Maryanne died in 1849, aged almost 90. Her daughter-in-law once recorded indignantly that Maryanne had proposed that she have an affair with the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

, to advance the family's fortunes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavendish Bradshaw, Augustus 1768 births 1832 deaths People from Watford People from Surrey (before 1889) People educated at Repton School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

Younger sons of barons Younger sons of baronets Irish MPs 1790–1797 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Honiton Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Carlow constituencies