Tankard (one of a pair) MET DP-12800-026

John Holles, Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, KG, PC (9 January 1662 – 15 July 1711) was an English peer.

Early life

Holles was born in

Edwinstowe Edwinstowe is a large village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire, England, on the edge of Sherwood Forest. It is associated with the legends of Robin Hood and Maid Marian and known for the proximity of th ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, the son of the 3rd Earl of Clare and his wife Grace Pierrepont. Grace was a daughter of The Hon. William Pierrepont and granddaughter of the 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull.

Politics

Holles was elected MP for

as Lord Houghton on 14 January 1689, but was called to the House of Lords two days later when his father died and he became the 4th

Earl of Clare Earl of Clare was a title of British nobility created three times: once each in the peerages of England, Great Britain and Ireland. The title derives from Clare, Suffolk, where a prominent Anglo-Norman family was seated since the Norman Conques ...

. He was created the Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of the 2nd creation, in 1694. The Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a title which was created three times in British history. The first creation had become extinct when his father-in-law

Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, KG, PC (24 June 1630 – 26 July 1691), styled Lord Cavendish until 1676, and Viscount Mansfield from 1676, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1676, and then ...

, died without a male heir. On 30 May 1698, he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Garter.

Family

On 1 March 1690, Holles married his

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

, Lady Margaret Cavendish, a daughter of Henry Cavendish. They had one child, Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles (1694–1755), who married the 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer and was mother to

Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (11 February 1715 – 17 July 1785) was a British aristocrat, styled Lady Margaret Harley before 1734, Duchess of Portland from 1734 to her husband's death in 1761, and Dowager Duchess of Por ...

. In 1710 he purchased Wimpole Park in Cambridgeshire and the Manor of Marylebone. The Marylebone lands passed to his son-in-law Harley who named Holles Street in his memory. A rivalry was formed between John and his sister, Elizabeth, when she married Christopher Vane, 1st Baron Barnard.

Death

Holles with baton & crown, Westminster Abbey

The duke died in 1711 from injuries received in a fall from his horse while hunting near

Welbeck Welbeck is a village in Nottinghamshire, England, slightly to the south-west of Worksop. The village population is included in the civil parish of Holbeck. Welbeck became a coal-mining centre in 1912 and has a famous stately home, Welbeck Ab ...

. He left his Cavendish estates to his son-in-law, Edward Harley (later 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer) and the remainder of his property to his nephew Thomas Pelham, subsequently 1st Duke of Newcastle (third creation) and prime minister. He was buried on 9 August 1711 in St. John's Chapel in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

. A large monument to Holles stands in the north transept of the abbey. Designed by

James Gibbs James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transi ...

and carved by Francis Bird with the aid of

John Michael Rysbrack Johannes Michel or John Michael Rysbrack, original name Jan Michiel Rijsbrack, often referred to simply as Michael Rysbrack (24 June 1694 – 8 January 1770), was an 18th-century Flemish sculptor, who spent most of his career in England where h ...

, it consists of a reclining figure of Holles flanked by statues representing Wisdom and Sincerity.

Records

Correspondence and estate records of John Holles, including letters to his wife, are held at the department of

Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections is part of Libraries, Research and Learning Resources at the University of Nottingham. It is based at King's Meadow Campus in Nottingham in England. The university has been collecting manuscripts since the earl ...

, principally in the Holles Papers (Pw 2), part of the Portland (Welbeck) Collection.

References

External links

Biography of John Holles, Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with links to online catalogues, on the website of Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Newcastle, John Holles, 1st Duke of 1662 births 1711 deaths Burials at Westminster Abbey Deaths by horse-riding accident in England 21 Earls of Clare English MPs 1689–1690 Garter Knights appointed by William III Hunting accident deaths Lord-Lieutenants of Middlesex Lord-Lieutenants of Nottinghamshire Lord-Lieutenants of the East Riding of Yorkshire Lord-Lieutenants of the North Riding of Yorkshire Marylebone People from Edwinstowe