Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire
Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire,
Background and education
Devonshire was the eldest son of
In later life he continued his interests in education as
Liberal, 1857–86
After joining the special mission to
In 1875 – the year following Liberal defeat at
In 1880, after Disraeli's government lost the general election, Hartington was invited by the Queen to form a government, but declined – as did the Earl Granville, Liberal Leader in the House of Lords – after Gladstone made it clear that he would not serve under anybody else. Hartington chose instead to serve in Gladstone's second government as Secretary of State for India (1880–1882) and Secretary of State for War (1882–1885).
In 1884 he was instrumental in persuading Gladstone to send
Liberal Unionist, 1886–1908
Hartington became increasingly uneasy with Gladstone's Irish policies, especially after the
Having succeeded as
I venture to express the opinion that [Chamberlain] will find among the projects and plans which he will be called upon to discuss none containing a more Socialistic principle than that which is embodied in his own scheme, which, whether it can properly be described as a scheme of protection or not, is certainly a scheme under which the State is to undertake to regulate the course of commerce and of industry, and tell us where we are to buy, where we are to sell, what commodities we are to manufacture at home, and what we may continue, if we think right, to import from other countries.[8]
Balfour, trying to juggle different factions, had allowed both Chamberlain and Free Trade supporters to resign from the government, hoping that Devonshire would remain for the sake of balance, but the latter eventually resigned under pressure from
Military service
He served part-time as captain in the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry from 1855 to 1873, and was honorary colonel of the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Derbyshire Regiment from 1871 and of the 2nd Sussex Artillery Volunteers from 1887.[9]
Personal life
-
Catherine Walters
-
Louise Montagu, Duchess of Manchester 1884
Hartington took great pains to parade his interest in horseracing, so as to cultivate an image of not being entirely obsessed by politics. For many years, the courtesan
Upon his death, he was succeeded by his nephew Victor Cavendish. He died of pneumonia at the Chatsworth House in Derbyshire and was interred on 28 March 1908 at St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor, Derbyshire. A statue of the Duke can be found at the junction of Whitehall and Horse Guards Avenue in London, and also on the Western Lawns at Eastbourne.
Legacy
Upon receiving news of the Duke's death, the House of Lords took the unprecedented step of adjourning in his honour.
Historian Jonathan Parry claimed that "He inherited the whig belief in the duty of political leadership, afforced by the intellectual notions characteristic of well-educated, propertied early to mid-Victorian Liberals: a confidence that the application of free trade, rational public administration, scientific enquiry, and a patriotic defence policy would promote Britain's international greatness—in which he strongly believed—and her economic and social progress...he became a model of the dutiful aristocrat".[12] It has been said[according to whom?] that he was "the best excuse that the last half-century has produced for the continuance of the peerages".
With 24 years of government service, Devonshire's is the fourth longest ministerial career in modern British politics.[13]
References
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2019) |
- ^ His title "Lord Hartington", by which he became known in 1858, was a courtesy title; as he was not a peer in his own right he was eligible to sit in the Commons until he succeeded his father as Duke of Devonshire in 1891
- ^ Roy Jenkins, "From Gladstone To Asquith: The Late Victorian Pattern of Liberal Leadership," History Today (July 1964) 14#7 pp 445-452 at page 445.
- ^ a b "Cavendish, Spencer Compton, Lord Cavendish (CVNS850SC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 131–132.
- ^ Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians, Chatto & Windus, 1918; p. 289
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 131.
- ^ "No. 27179". The London Gazette. 3 April 1900. p. 2195.
- ^ The Fiscal Question, HL Deb 22 February 1906 vol 152 cc456-86.
- ^ Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1895. Kelly's. p. 368.
- ^ Hansard, THE LATE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE HL Deb 24 March 1908 vol 186 cc1178-83 [1].
- ^ Margot Asquith, The Autobiography of Margot Asquith. Volume One (London: Penguin, 1936), p. 123.
- ^ Parry.
- ^ Parkinson, Justin (13 June 2013). "Chasing Churchill: Ken Clarke climbs ministerial long-service chart". BBC News.
Further reading
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh (1911). "Devonshire, Earls and Dukes of". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 130–132. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Ferris, Wesley. "The Liberal Unionist Party, 1886–1912" (PhD. Dissertation, McMaster University. 2008). Bibliography pp 397–418. online
- Holland, Bernard Henry. The life of Spencer Compton: eighth duke of Devonshire. (2 vol 1911). online vol 1 and online vol 2
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32331. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Rempel, Richard A. Unionists Divided: Arthur Balfour, Joseph Chamberlain and the Unionist Free Traders (Archon Books, 1972).
- Vane, Henry. Affair of State: A Biography of the 8th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire (Peter Owen, 2004).
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Duke of Devonshire
- Marquess of Hartington (Duke of Devonshire) 1833–1908 biography from the Liberal Democrat History Group
- "Archival material relating to Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire". UK National Archives.