William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire (c. 1590 – 20 June 1628) was an English nobleman, courtier, and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1614 until 1626 when he succeeded to the peerage and sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Life

Cavendish was the second son of William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, by his first wife Anne Keighley. He was educated by

Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan (Hobbes book), Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered t ...

, the philosopher, who lived at Chatsworth as his private tutor for many years. In 1608, he went up to

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

accompanied by Hobbes. He was knighted at Whitehall in 1609. He then went with Hobbes on a Grand Tour from about 1610, where he visited France and Italy before his coming of age. He was a leader of court society, and an intimate friend of James I, and Hobbes praised his learning in the dedication of his translation of

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

. In 1614, Cavendish was elected member of parliament for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. He became

Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire. Since 1689, all the Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Derbyshire. * Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon * George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury 3 ...

in 1619. In 1621 he was re-elected MP for Derbyshire. In April 1622 he introduced to audiences with the king Schwarzenburg, ambassador from the Emperor Ferdinand, Valerssio from Venice, and d'Arsennes and Joachimi from the United Provinces. He was re-elected MP for Derbyshire in 1624 and 1625. In 1625 he was present at Charles I's marriage with

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria of France (French language, French: ''Henriette Marie''; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to K ...

. He was high bailiff of Tutbury in 1626 and was re-elected MP for Derbyshire in 1626, until the death of his father early in 1626 gave him a seat in the

. In the Lords, he resisted George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham's attempt to find a treasonable meaning on a speech of Sir Dudley Digges (13 May 1626). Cavendish's spending strained his resources, and he procured a private act of Parliament, the ( 3 Cha. 1. c. ''3'' ) to enable him to sell some of the entailed estates in discharge of his debts in 1629. His London house was in Bishopsgate, on the site afterwards occupied by Devonshire Square. Cavendish died at his London house, from over-indulgence it was said, at the age of about 35 and was buried in All Hallows Church (All Saints Church), Derby. The monument was sculpted by Edward Marshall.

Family

Cavendish married Christian(a) Bruce, daughter of Edward Bruce, 1st Lord Kinloss, on 10 April 1608. They had four children: *Anne Cavendish (c. 1611–1638), married

Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

and had issue. * William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire (1617–1684) * Charles Cavendish (1620–1643) * Henry Cavendish (died April 1620)''HMC Duke of Portland'', vol. 2 (London, 1893), p. 118.

Notes

References

* Pearson, John, ''The Serpent and the Stag'', Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983. Attribution: * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Devonshire, William Cavendish, 2nd Earl Of 1590s births 1628 deaths Earls of Devonshire (1618 creation) Lord-lieutenants of Derbyshire People from Derbyshire Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge William Cavendish, 02nd Earl of Devonshire English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626