William Arthur Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 7th Duke of Portland, (16 March 1893 – 21 March 1977), styled Marquess of Titchfield until 1943, was a British peer and
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
politician.
Biography
Portland was the elder son of
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland
William Arthur Charles Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland, (28 December 1857 – 26 April 1943) was a British landowner, courtier, and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician. He notably served as Master of the Horse between ...
, and his wife,
Winifred Anna (née Dallas-Yorke). He was elected to 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 ...
as
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Newark in 1922, a seat he held until he succeeded his father in the dukedom in 1943, and served as a Junior
Lord of the Treasury under
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (3 August 186714 December 1947), was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was prominent in the political leadership of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime ministe ...
from 1927 to 1929 and under
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...
in 1932. He also held the honorary posts of
Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire between 1939 and 1962 and was the second
Chancellor
Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
of the
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948.
Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
between 1954 and 1971. In 1948 he was made a
Knight Companion of the Garter. He also held the appointment of the
honorary air commodore
Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries which have historical British influ ...
of
No. 616 Squadron RAF.
Marriage and children
Portland married
Ivy Gordon-Lennox, daughter of Colonel
Lord Algernon Charles Gordon-Lennox and granddaughter of
Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond
Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox, 1st Duke of Gordon, (27 February 1818 – 27 September 1903), styled the Earl of March until 1860, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician.
Backgroun ...
, on 12 August 1915. They had two daughters:
*
Lady (Alexandra Margaret) Anne Cavendish-Bentinck (6 September 1916 – 21 December 2008)
* Lady (Victoria) Margaret Cavendish-Bentinck (9 October 1918 – 29 August 1955)
He died in March 1977, aged 84, and was interred at the traditional burial place of the Dukes of Portland, in the churchyard of St Winifred's Church at
Holbeck
Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is t ...
.
He was succeeded in the dukedom by his third cousin
Ferdinand Cavendish-Bentinck. The subsidiary title
Baron Bolsover became extinct on the death.
The heir to the Duke's titles was a distant cousin. Rather than allow the entailed estates to pass with the titles, the Duke arranged to break the entails and thus enrich his own daughters while permanently denuding the titles of both wealth and long-standing rootedness in land and country. The
family seat
A family seat, sometimes just called seat, is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families t ...
of
Welbeck Abbey
Welbeck Abbey is an English country house near the village of Welbeck in the Bassetlaw District of Nottinghamshire. It was the site of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order, and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries a residen ...
passed to his elder daughter,
Lady Anne, who never married; upon her death, it passed to the son of her deceased younger sister, Lady Margaret, who had died in 1955 aged 36. Lady Margaret had been married to Don Gaetano Parente, Principe di Castel Viscardo, Italy. Her son, named William Henry Marcello Parente (born 18 February 1951), inherited the estates and later served as
High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 2003. Meanwhile, the 8th Duke of Portland, who had inherited the titles, continued to live very modestly in
Nairobi
Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
.
Portland was a second cousin of
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...
.
Wealth
Little is published of his wealth. His probate was sworn in 1977 at , three times that of his father's assets passing at point of death (in real terms).
[https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk Calendar of Probates and Administrations]
Ancestry
Arms
References
* http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/books/portland1907/portland1.htm "The Portland Peerage Romance (1907)"
* https://web.archive.org/web/20130113035008/http://www.angelfire.com/in/heinbruins/Bentinck.html "The Descendants of Willem Bentinck and Charlotte Aldenburg"
* Michael Rhodes "High Sheriffs for 2003-4" alt.talk.royalty, 21 March 2003
* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
*
*
*
External links
*
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 7th Duke of Portland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portland, William Cavendish-Bentinck, 7th Duke Of
1893 births
1977 deaths
William, 7th Duke of Portland
107 107 may refer to:
*107 (number), the number
*AD 107, a year in the 2nd century AD
*107 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
*107 (New Jersey bus)
*107 Camilla, a main-belt asteroid
*Peugeot 107, a city car
See also
*10/7 (disambiguation)
*Bohrium, ...
Honorary air commodores
Knights of the Garter
Cavendish-Bentinck, William
Lord-lieutenants of Nottinghamshire
People from Welbeck
People from Bassetlaw District
People associated with the University of Nottingham
Cavendish-Bentinck, William
Cavendish-Bentinck, William
Cavendish-Bentinck, William
Cavendish-Bentinck, William
Cavendish-Bentinck, William
Cavendish-Bentinck, William
Portland, D7
Cavendish-Bentinck, William
English justices of the peace
20th-century British landowners
20th-century English nobility
People educated at Eton College