House of Cavendish

Cavendish family
Armorial of Cavendish
Country	Kingdom of England Kingdom of Ireland United Kingdom
Titles	Duke of Devonshire Duke of Newcastle Marquess of Hartington Marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Earl of Devonshire Earl of Burlington Earl of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Viscount Mansfield Baron Clifford Baron Cavendish Baron Cavendish of Keighley Baron Waterpark Baron Ogle
Founded	c.1346
Founder	Sir John Cavendish
Current head	Stoker Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire

Cavendish (/ˈkævəndɪʃ/) is the surname of a British noble family, also known as the House of Cavendish. This Cavendish family has been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, and has been rivalled in political influence perhaps only by the Marquesses of Salisbury and the Earls of Derby. They are descended from Sir John Cavendish of Cavendish in the county of Suffolk (c. 1346–1381), which has held the following peerages:

• The dukedom of Devonshire
• The dukedom of Newcastle
• The barony of Waterpark

Notable members

• Amanda Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (born 1944)
• Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire (1920–2004), British government minister
• Deborah Cavendish, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire (1920-2014), Mitford sister and writer
• Edward Cavendish (1838–91), British politician
• Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895–1950), Minister in Winston Churchill's wartime cabinet
• Evelyn Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1870–1960), Mistress of the Robes to Queen Mary
• Lady Celina Cavendish (born 1971)
• Lady Dorothy Cavendish (1750-1794), Duchess of Portland
• Lord Frederick Cavendish (1836–82), British Liberal politician
• Lord Frederick Cavendish (1729-1803), soldier
• George Augustus Henry Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington (1754–1834)
• George Henry Compton Cavendish (1784–1809), English politician
• George Cavendish (writer) (1500–c.1562), English writer, biographer of Cardinal Wolsey
• Lord George Augustus Cavendish (?–1794), British politician
• Lord George Henry Cavendish (1810–1880), British politician
• Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806), socialite
• Lady Grania Mary Caulfield Cavendish (born 1947)
• Sir Henry Cavendish, 1st Baronet (1707-1776), Anglo-Irish politician
• Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) scientist, known for the Cavendish experiment
• Sir Henry Cavendish, 2nd Baronet (1732-1804), Anglo-Irish politician
• Henry Cavendish, 3rd Baron Waterpark (1793-1863), MP
• Lord James Cavendish (born 2010)
• Lady Jasmine Cavendish (born 1975)
• Sir Jeremy Cavendish (born 1985), Businessman
• John Cavendish (c.1346–81)
• Lord John Cavendish (1734–96), English politician
• Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle (1630–91)
• Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish (1920–48), daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
• Louisa, Duchess of Devonshire (1832–1911), the "Double Duchess"
• Lucy Cavendish (1841–1925)
• Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623–73), English writer and scientist
• Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1895–1988), Mistress of the Robes to Elizabeth II
• Lady Maude Cavendish (born 2009)
• Michael Cavendish (c.1565–1628), English composer
• Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire (born 1944), 12th Duke of Devonshire, horse racing devotee
• Richard Hugh Cavendish, aka Hugh Cavendish, Baron Cavendish of Furness (born 1941), Baron Cavendish of Furness
• Lord Richard Cavendish, British MP
• Richard Cavendish, 2nd Baron Waterpark (1765-1830)
• Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire (1833–1908), British Liberal statesman
• Thomas Cavendish (1555–1592), "The Navigator", British explorer
• Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire (1868–1938), British politician, Governor General of Canada (1916–21)
• William Cavendish (courtier) (1505–57), English courtier
• William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1592-1676), English soldier, politician and writer
• William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire (1698–1755), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1737–44.
• William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (1720–64), briefly Prime Minister of Great Britain
• William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790–1858), Lord Chamberlain to King William IV
• William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire (1808—91), Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1861–91, for whom Cavendish Laboratory is named
• William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington (1917–44), killed in action, Belgium - World War II
• William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington aka Bill Burlington (born 1969), professional photographer
• Walter Francis Frederick Cavendish, Lord Cavendish of Hartwell (born 1985), Businessman, Farming

The 3rd to 9th Dukes of Portland were descended from the Cavendish family in the female line and took the surname Cavendish-Bentinck or a variant thereof. Their principal seat, Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, came to them through the Cavendish connection.

References

• Charles Roger Dod, Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, Volume 15 (S. Low, Marston & Company, 1855), 544.
• William Courthope, Debrett's Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (J. G. & F. Rivington, 1838), 18.
• Sir Egerton Brydges, A Biographical Peerage of the Empire of Great Britain (J. Johnson, 1808), 86.