William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, (21 May 1790 K. D. Reynolds, ‘Cavendish, William George Spencer, sixth duke of Devonshire (1790–1858)’,

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 6 June 2010
/ref> – 18 January 1858), styled Marquess of Hartington until 1811, was a British peer, courtier, nobleman, and Whig politician. Known as the "Bachelor Duke", he was

Lord Chamberlain of the Household Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

between 1827 and 1828 and again between 1830 and 1834. The

Cavendish banana Cavendish bananas are the fruits of one of a number of banana cultivars belonging to the Cavendish subgroup of the AAA banana cultivar group. The same term is also used to describe the plants on which the bananas grow. They include commerciall ...

is named after him.

Background

Born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Devonshire was the son of

William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, (14 December 1748 – 29 July 1811), was a British nobleman, aristocrat, and politician. He was the eldest son of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, by his wife, the heiress Lady Charlotte B ...

, and Lady Georgiana, daughter of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer. He was educated at Harrow and at

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 lost both his parents while still in his youth; his mother died in 1806 and his father in 1811 when, aged 21, he succeeded to the dukedom. Along with the title, he inherited eight stately homes and some 200,000 acres (809 km² or 80,900 ha) of land.

Political career

Politically Devonshire followed in the Whig family tradition. He supported

Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

, the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and reduced factory working hours.Biography of Devonshire on Orchidologists website
/ref> He held office as

under George Canning and Lord Goderich between 1827 and 1828 and under Lord Grey and

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...

between 1830 and 1834. In 1827 he was sworn of the Privy Council and made a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

. He was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

on the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I in 1826. Devonshire was also Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire between 1811 and 1858 and carried the Orb at the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...

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 ...

in 1821. However, increasing deafness from an early age prevented him from taking an even greater part in public life.

Other interests

Devonshire had a major interest in gardening and horticulture, and devoted himself sedulously to the care and nurture of his vast estates. His major projects including the wholesale rebuilding of the village of Edensor, and significant improvement to his several stately houses and their gardens. He befriended Sir Joseph Paxton, then employed at the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Chiswick Gardens, located close to Devonshire's London estate

Chiswick House Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694– ...

, and appointed him his head gardener at Chatsworth House in 1826, despite Paxton being only in his early twenties at the time. Paxton greatly expanded the gardens at Chatsworth, including the construction of a 277 foot long conservatory, which served as a model for

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around th ...

constructed in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's Hyde Park. Devonshire, himself a keen horticulturalist, was elected President of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1838, a position in which he served for twenty years until his death. It was this interest which led him to establish the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew as a national botanic garden. The world's most commercially exploited banana, the Cavendish, was named in his honour. He had acquired an early specimen, which he raised in his glasshouse, and this plant is the progenitor of almost all the worldwide varieties of Cavendish banana.details of the taxonomic naming of the cavendish banana
/ref> Devonshire was also patron of The Derby Town and County Museum and Natural History Society. In that position, he was instrumental in the creation of the Derby Museum and Art Gallery in 1836. He also travelled extensively. In 1845, Cavendish published a book called ''Handbook to Chatsworth and Hardwick''. It was privately printed and provided a history of the Cavendish family's two primary estates: Chatsworth House and

Hardwick Hall Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is an architecturally significant country house from the Elizabethan era, a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house. Built between 1590 and 1597 for Bess of Hardwick, it was designed by the architect ...

; the handbook was praised by author

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Personal life

Devonshire was a close friend of the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

. Other friends included Antonio Canova and

. Much of Devonshire's private correspondence, including letters to his mistresses (one of whom he installed nearby), was destroyed by his Victorian relatives. He intended to marry

Lady Caroline Ponsonby Lady Caroline Lamb (née Ponsonby; 13 November 1785 – 25 January 1828) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and novelist, best known for ''Glenarvon'', a Gothic novel. In 1812 she had an affair with Lord Byron, whom she described as "mad, bad, and ...

, his cousin, but she married William Lamb, which he found devastating. Devonshire died at

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, in January 1858, aged 67, and left an estate valued at £500,000 in his will. As he was unmarried the dukedom passed to his cousin William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Burlington. His junior title of

Baron Clifford Baron Clifford is a title in the Peerage of England created by writ of summons on 17 February 1628 for Henry Clifford, Lord Clifford (so styled as heir to the Earldom of Cumberland). The title was believed to be held by Lord Clifford's father a ...

fell into abeyance between his sisters, Georgiana, Countess of Carlisle, and Harriet, Countess Granville.

References

External links