William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland

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William Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland 1782
Painting by Benjamin West , 1804

William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (born April 14, 1738 in Nottinghamshire , † October 30, 1809 in Bulstrode , Buckinghamshire ), was a British politician of the Whigs and the Tories and Prime Minister in 1783 and 1807-1809 .

Life

He was born William Henry Bentinck, the eldest son of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland and Margaret Harley . As his father's apparent marriage , he carried the courtesy title of Marquess of Titchfield until 1762 . He later added a Royal License to Cavendish-Bentinck to his family name on October 5, 1801, and added that of that family to his coat of arms .

He was at the Westminster School educated and graduated in 1757 his studies at Christ Church College of Oxford University as a Master of Arts from. 1761 he was appointed as a deputy for the Borough Weobley in Herefordshire in the House of Commons voted. A year later he moved into the House of Lords after inheriting the Duke of Portland title when his father died . He was the aristocratic Whig party of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham , close. He served in his first government (1765-1766) as Lord Chamberlain of the Household and then, in Rockingham's second term (April-August 1782), as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . After Rockingham's death, he was no longer a member of the government of William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne , as he was a supporter of Charles James Fox .

In April 1783, Bentinck came into the limelight as the nominal head of a coalition government. Their real leaders, however, were James Fox and Lord North . He was a member of that government as Lord of the Treasury until it fell apart in December of the same year.

Like many other conservative Whigs (including Edmund Burke ), the Duke felt a profound discomfort with the French Revolution . He fell out with Fox over the problem and in 1794 joined Pitt's government as Secretary of the Interior. He was a member of the Cabinet until Pitt's death in 1806 - from 1801 to 1805 as Lord President of the Council , then as Minister without Portfolio.

In 1794 he was accepted into the Order of the Garter.

When Pitt's supporters came back to power after the overthrow of the " government of all talents " in March 1807, Bentinck was again an acceptable figurehead for a squabble group of ministers such as George Canning , Lord Castlereagh , Lord Hawkesbury and Spencer Perceval .

Cavendish-Bentinck's second government experienced the complete isolation of the United Kingdom from the continent ( continental blockade by Napoleon ), but also the beginning of the recovery, as the Spanish War of Independence began. In the fall of 1809, the Duke resigned because of his poor health and because of the scandalous duel between Canning and Castlereagh. Shortly afterwards he died.

Trivia

The Portland vase is named after his family, to whom it belonged at times.

Marriage and offspring

Dorothy Cavendish, his wife
Coat of arms of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland

Cavendish-Bentinck married Dorothy Cavendish (1750–1794), daughter of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire , in 1766 . The couple had the following children:

literature

Web links

Commons : William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files
predecessor Office successor
William Bentinck Duke of Portland
1762-1809
William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck
Granville Leveson-Gower Lord Chamberlain
1765-1766
Francis Seymour-Conway
Frederick Howard Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1782
George Nugent-Temple-Grenville
Henry Dundas Home Secretary
1794-1801
Thomas Pelham
John Pitt Lord President of the Council
1801-1805
Henry Addington