William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland

The Duke of Portland
His Grace; The Duke of Portland; KG PC FRS
	Portrait by Matthew Pratt
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
	In office; 31 March 1807 – 4 October 1809
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	The Lord Grenville
Succeeded by	Spencer Perceval
	In office; 2 April 1783 – 18 December 1783
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	The Earl of Shelburne
Succeeded by	William Pitt the Younger
Lord President of the Council
	In office; 30 July 1801 – 14 January 1805
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	Henry Addington; William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by	The Earl of Chatham
Succeeded by	Viscount Sidmouth
Home Secretary
	In office; 11 July 1794 – 30 July 1801
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by	Henry Dundas
Succeeded by	Lord Pelham
Personal details
Born	14 April 1738; Nottinghamshire, England
Died	30 October 1809 (aged 71); Burlington House, Westminster, England
Resting place	St Marylebone Parish Church
Political party	Whig (Foxite) (1761–1794); Tory (Pittite) (1794–1809);
Spouse(s)	Lady Dorothy Cavendish (m. 1766; died 1794)
Children	6, including William, 4th Duke; Lord William and Lord Charles
Parents	William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland; Margaret Cavendish-Harley;
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Signature

William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, KG, PC, FRS (14 April 1738 – 30 October 1809) was a British Whig and then a Tory politician during the late Georgian era. He served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford (1792–1809) and twice as the Prime Minister of Great Britain (1783) and then of the United Kingdom (1807–1809). The 24 years between his two terms as Prime Minister is the longest gap between terms of office of any British Prime Minister.

Portland was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title of every degree of British nobility: duke, marquess, earl, viscount and baron. He is also a great-great-great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II through her maternal grandmother, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.

He was the leader of the Portland Whigs faction, which broke with the Whig leadership of Charles James Fox and joined with William Pitt the Younger in the wake of the French Revolution.

Early life and education

Lord Titchfield was the eldest son of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland and Margaret Cavendish-Harley and inherited many lands from his mother and his maternal grandmother,[1][2][3] who was the widow of John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle.[4] He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated MA in 1757.[5][4]

Marriage and children

Lady Dorothy Cavendish, wife of William Cavendish Bentinck. (George Romney)

On 8 November 1766, Portland married Lady Dorothy Cavendish, a daughter of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire and Charlotte Boyle. They were parents of six children:

William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland (24 June 1768 – 27 March 1854).
Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (14 September 1774 – 17 June 1839).
Lady Charlotte Cavendish-Bentinck (3 October 1775 – 28 July 1862). Married Charles Greville, and they had three sons: Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville, Algernon Greville, and Henry William Greville (1801–1872), and a daughter, Harriet (1803–1870) m. Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere.[6]
Lady Mary Cavendish-Bentinck (13 March 1779 – 6 November 1843).
Lord Charles Bentinck (3 October 1780 – 28 April 1826). Paternal grandfather of Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, grandmother to Queen Elizabeth II; ancestor of the 6th and 7th dukes of Portland, and of Lady Ottoline Morrell.
Lord Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck (2 November 1781 – 11 February 1828) married Lady Mary Lowther (died 1863), daughter of William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, 16 September 1820; had issue: George Cavendish-Bentinck, ancestor of the 8th and 9th dukes of Portland.
A stillborn baby, birthed at Burlington House on 20 October 1786.[7]

Through his son Charles, Portland is a great-great-great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II (see ancestry of Elizabeth II).

Political and public offices

Portland was elected to sit in the Parliament of Great Britain for Weobley in 1761 before he entered the House of Lords after he succeeded his father as Duke of Portland the next year. He was associated with the aristocratic Whig Party of Lord Rockingham and served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household in Rockingham's first government (1765–1766).[4]

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Portland served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Rockingham's second ministry (April–August 1782). He faced strong demands for conciliatory measures following years of coercion and taxation brought about by the British government's engagement in the American Revolutionary War.[8] Portland resolved to make concessions and, overcoming the resistance of Lord Shelburne, the Home Secretary to whom he reported, convinced Parliament to repeal the Declaratory Act and to modify Poynings' Law.[9] Following Rockingham's death, Portland resigned from Lord Shelburne's ministry along with other supporters of Charles James Fox.[10]

First premiership

In April 1783, Portland was selected as the titular head of a coalition government as Prime Minister, whose real leaders were Charles James Fox and Lord North. He served as First Lord of the Treasury in the ministry until its fall in December that same year. During his tenure, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which formally ended the American Revolutionary War. The government was brought down after it had lost a vote in the House of Lords on its proposed reform of the East India Company after George III had let it be known that any peer voting for the measure would be considered his personal enemy.[11]

In 1789, Portland became one of several vice presidents of London's Foundling Hospital. The charity had become one of the most fashionable of the time, with several notables serving on its board. At its creation, 50 years earlier, Portland's father, William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, had been one of the founding governors, as listed on the charity's royal charter granted by George II. The hospital had a mission to care for the abandoned children in London, and it achieved rapid fame through its poignant mission, its art collection donated from supporting artists and the popular benefit concerts by George Frideric Handel. In 1793, Portland took over the presidency of the charity from Lord North.

Home secretary

Along with many other conservative Whigs such as Edmund Burke, Portland was deeply uncomfortable with the French Revolution and broke with Fox over that issue and joined Pitt's government as Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1794. In that role, he oversaw the administration of patronage and financial inducements, which were often secret, to secure the passage of the Act of Union 1800.[12] He continued to serve in the cabinet until Pitt's death in 1806, from 1801 to 1805 as Lord President of the Council[4] and then as a Minister without Portfolio.

Second premiership

In March 1807, after the collapse of the Ministry of all the Talents, Pitt's supporters returned to power, and Portland was once again an acceptable figurehead for a fractious group of ministers that included George Canning, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Hawkesbury and Spencer Perceval.

Portland's second government saw the United Kingdom's complete isolation on the continent but also the beginning of its recovery with the start of the Peninsular War. In late 1809, with Portland's health poor and the ministry rocked by the scandalous duel between Canning and Castlereagh, Portland resigned and died shortly thereafter.

He was Recorder of Nottingham until his death.

Death and burial

Memorial to the 3rd Duke of Portland at the family vault in St Marylebone Parish Church

He died on 30 October 1809 at Burlington House, Piccadilly, after an operation for the stone, and was buried at St Marylebone Parish Church, London.[13]

He had lived expensively: with an income of £17,000 a year (worth £577,000 in 2005),[14] he had debts at his death computed at £52,000 (£1.76 million in 2005),[14] which were paid off by his succeeding son by selling off some property, including Bulstrode.[15]

Along with Sir Robert Peel, Lord Aberdeen, Benjamin Disraeli, William Ewart Gladstone, Marquess of Salisbury, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Bonar Law and Neville Chamberlain, he was the first of nine British prime ministers to die while his direct successor was in office.

Legacy

The Portland Vase of Roman glass was given its name because it was owned by Portland at his family residence at Bulstrode Park.

Portland Parish, in Jamaica, was named after him. The Titchfield School, founded in 1786, is in the parish and is also named in his honour. The school's crest is derived from the his personal crest.

Two major streets in Marylebone are named after the him: Portland Place and Great Portland Street. Both were built on land that he once owned.

North Bentinck Arm and South Bentinck Arm were named for the Bentinck family by George Vancouver in 1793, along with other names on the British Columbia Coast, such as Portland Canal and Portland Channel.

The department of Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham holds a number of papers relating to the him. His personal and political papers (Pw F) are part of the Portland (Welbeck) Collection, and the Portland (London) Collection (Pl) contains his correspondence and official papers, especially in series Pl C.

The Portland Estate Papers held at Nottinghamshire Archives also contain items relating to the 3rd Duke's properties.

The Portland Collection of fine and decorative art includes pieces owned and commissioned by him, including paintings by George Stubbs.

Arms

Coat of arms of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
	Notes The title Duke of Portland was created by George I in 1716. Coronet A Coronet of a Duke Crest Out of a ducal coronet proper two arms counter-embowed vested Gules, on the hands gloves Or, each holding an ostrich feather Argent (Bentinck); A snake nowed proper (Cavendish) Escutcheon Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Azure a cross moline Argent (Bentinck); 2nd and 3rd, Sable three stags' heads cabossed Argent attired Or, a crescent for difference (Cavendish) Supporters Two lions double queued, the dexter Or and the sinister sable Motto Craignez Honte (Fear Dishonour)

Cabinets as Prime Minister

First Ministry, April – December 1783

The Duke of Portland—First Lord of the Treasury
Lord Stormont—Lord President of the Council
Lord Carlisle—Lord Privy Seal
Lord North—Secretary of State for the Home Department
Charles James Fox—Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
The Viscount Keppel—First Lord of the Admiralty
Lord John Cavendish—Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Viscount Townshend—Master-General of the Ordnance
Lord Northington—Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
The Great Seal is in Commission

Second Ministry, March 1807 – October 1809

The Duke of Portland—First Lord of the Treasury
Lord Eldon—Lord Chancellor
Lord Camden—Lord President of the Council
Lord Westmorland—Lord Privy Seal
Lord Hawkesbury, after 1808, Lord Liverpool – Secretary of State for the Home Department
George Canning—Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Lord Castlereagh—Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
Lord Mulgrave—First Lord of the Admiralty
Spencer Perceval—Chancellor of the Exchequer and of the Duchy of Lancaster
Lord Chatham—Master-General of the Ordnance
Lord Bathurst—President of the Board of Trade

Changes

July 1809—Lord Harrowby, the President of the Board of Control, and Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, the Secretary at War, enter the Cabinet

Ancestry

Ancestors of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland

8. William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland

4. Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland

9. Anne Villiers

2. William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland

10. Wriothesley Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough

5. Lady Elizabeth Noel

11. The Hon. Catherine Greville

1. William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland

12. Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer

6. Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer

13. Elizabeth Foley

3. Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley

14. John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle

7. Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles

15. Lady Margaret Cavendish

References

"Line of descent of the Earls and Dukes of Portland" (PDF). University of Nottingham. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
Settlements, mortgages, litigation, Acts of Parliament etc. relating to the 'maternal' estates of the Dukes of Portland; 1583–1790 Archived 6 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The University of Nottingham, UK.
Series of manorial papers in the Newcastle (Clumber) Collection (1st Deposit); 1357–1867 Archived 6 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The University of Nottingham, UK.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Portland, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 119.
"William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738-1809)". www.historyhome.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
"Harriet Catherine Greville".
Caledonian Mercury 28 October 1786 Page 2
Wilkinson, David (2003). The Duke of Portland – Politics and Party in the Age of George III. Basingstoke, UK and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 35–8. ISBN 978-0333963852.
Wilkinson pp 38–41
Stephens, Henry Morse (1885). "Bentinck, William Henry Cavendish" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Wilkinson p 56
Wilkinson p150-7
"The Edinburgh Annual Register for 1809". John Ballantyne and Company. 1811 – via Google Books.
National Archives currency converter.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 5. Oxford University Press. 2004. pp. 268–269. ISBN 978-0-19-861355-8.

External links

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by John Craster George Venables-Vernon	Member of Parliament for Weobley 1761–1762 With: Hon. Henry Thynne	Succeeded by William Lynch Hon. Henry Thynne
Political offices
Preceded by The Earl Gower	Lord Chamberlain 1765–1766	Succeeded by The Earl of Hertford
Preceded by The Earl of Carlisle	Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1782	Succeeded by The Earl Temple
Preceded by The Earl of Shelburne	Prime Minister of Great Britain 2 April 1783 – 18 December 1783	Succeeded by William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by The Earl of Shelburne	Leader of the House of Lords 1783	Succeeded by The Earl Temple
Preceded by Henry Dundas	Home Secretary 1794–1801	Succeeded by Lord Pelham
Preceded by The Earl of Chatham	Lord President of the Council 1801–1805	Succeeded by The Viscount Sidmouth
New office	Minister without Portfolio 1805–1806	Succeeded by The Earl FitzWilliam
Preceded by The Lord Grenville	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 31 March 1807 – 4 October 1809	Succeeded by Spencer Perceval
Academic offices
Preceded by The Earl of Guilford	Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1792–1809	Succeeded by The Lord Grenville
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord North	President of the Foundling Hospital 1793–1809	Succeeded by The Prince of Wales later became King George IV
Preceded by The 3rd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne	Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire 1795–1809	Succeeded by The 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by William Bentinck	Duke of Portland 1762–1809	Succeeded by William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck

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[1] "Line of descent of the Earls and Dukes of Portland" (PDF). University of Nottingham. Retrieved 24 March 2015.

[2] Settlements, mortgages, litigation, Acts of Parliament etc. relating to the 'maternal' estates of the Dukes of Portland; 1583–1790 Archived 6 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The University of Nottingham, UK.

[3] Series of manorial papers in the Newcastle (Clumber) Collection (1st Deposit); 1357–1867 Archived 6 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The University of Nottingham, UK.

[EB1911-4] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Portland, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 119.

[5] "William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738-1809)". www.historyhome.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2019.

[6] "Harriet Catherine Greville".

[7] Caledonian Mercury 28 October 1786 Page 2

[Wilkinson-8] Wilkinson, David (2003). The Duke of Portland – Politics and Party in the Age of George III. Basingstoke, UK and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 35–8. ISBN 978-0333963852.

[9] Wilkinson pp 38–41

[10] Stephens, Henry Morse (1885). "Bentinck, William Henry Cavendish" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[11] Wilkinson p 56

[12] Wilkinson p150-7

[13] "The Edinburgh Annual Register for 1809". John Ballantyne and Company. 1811 – via Google Books.

[nacc-14] National Archives currency converter.

[odnb-15] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 5. Oxford University Press. 2004. pp. 268–269. ISBN 978-0-19-861355-8.