Cavendish family

Cavendish family
Noble house
Arms: Sable, three buck's heads cabossed argent
Country	Kingdom of England Kingdom of Ireland United Kingdom
Place of origin	Normandy
Founded	c. 1346
Founder	Sir John Cavendish
Current head	Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire
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 Baron Chesham
Motto	Cavendo tutus ("Safe through caution")

The Cavendish family (/ˈkævəndɪʃ/) is a British noble family. The Cavendishes have been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, 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), and their numerous peerages included the Dukedom of Devonshire, the Dukedom of Newcastle, the Barony of Waterpark in County Cork and the Barony of Chesham in Buckinghamshire. The head of the family is Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, whose seat is Chatsworth House, one of the grandest private homes in the world.

Notable members

• Sir John Cavendish (c.1346–1381)
  • Sir John Cavendish
    • William Cavendish (died 1433)
      • Thomas Cavendish (died 1477)
        • Thomas Cavendish (died 1523)
          • George Cavendish (1500–c.1562), English writer, biographer of Cardinal Wolsey
            • William Cavendish
              • Michael Cavendish (c.1565–1628), English composer
          • William Cavendish (1505–1557), English courtier
            • Henry Cavendish (1550–1616)
              • Henry Cavendish (died 1624), illegitimate son
                • Francis Cavendish (1618–1650)
                  • Henry Cavendish (1649–1698)
                    • William Cavendish (1682–1698)
                      • Sir Henry Cavendish, 1st Baronet (1707–1776), Anglo-Irish politician
                        • Sir Henry Cavendish, 2nd Baronet (1732–1804), Anglo-Irish politician
                          • Richard Cavendish, 2nd Baron Waterpark (1765–1830)
                            • Henry Cavendish, 3rd Baron Waterpark (1793–1863), MP
                            • Richard Cavendish (1794–1876), Member of Parliament, member of the Canterbury Association
            • William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire (1552–1626)
              • William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire (c. 1590–1628)
                • William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire (1617–1684)
                  • William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire (1640–1707)
                    • William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (1672–1729)
                      • William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire (1698–1755), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1737–44
                        • William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (1720–1764), briefly Prime Minister of Great Britain
                          • William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (1748–1811); married to Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806), political organizer
                            • William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790–1858), Lord Chamberlain to King William IV
                          • Lady Dorothy Cavendish (1750–1794), Duchess of Portland, 3x great grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II
                          • Lord Richard Cavendish (1752–1781), Member of the Parliament of Great Britain
                          • George Augustus Henry Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington (1754–1834)
                            • William Cavendish (1783–1812)
                              • William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire (1808–91), Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1861–91, for whom Cavendish Laboratory is named
                                • Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire (1833–1908), British Liberal statesman; married to Louisa Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1832–1911), the "Double Duchess"
                                • Lord Frederick Cavendish (1836–1882), British Liberal politician; married to Lucy Cavendish (1841–1925), namesake of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge
                                • Lord Edward Cavendish (1838–1891), soldier and politician
                                  • Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire (1868–1938), British politician, Governor General of Canada 1916–21; married to Evelyn Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1870–1960), Mistress of the Robes to Queen Mary
                                    • Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895–1950), Minister in Winston Churchill's wartime cabinet; married to Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1895–1988), Mistress of the Robes to Elizabeth II
                                      • William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington (1917–1944), killed in action, Belgium; married to Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington aka Kick Kennedy (1920–1948), sister of U.S. president John F. Kennedy
                                      • Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire (1920–2004), British government minister; married to Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1920–2014), Mitford sister and writer
                                        • Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire (born 1944), horse racing devotee
                                          • William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington aka Bill Burlington (born 1969), professional photographer
                                  • Lord Richard Cavendish (1871–1946), author, magistrate and politician
                                    • Richard Edward Osborne Cavendish (1917–1972)
                                      • Hugh Cavendish, Baron Cavendish of Furness (born 1941)
                              • Lord George Henry Cavendish (1810–1880), British politician
                            • George Henry Compton Cavendish (1784–1809), English politician
                            • Henry Frederick Compton Cavendish (1789–1873), general
                            • Charles Cavendish, 1st Baron Chesham (1793–1863), Liberal politician
                        • Lord George Augustus Cavendish (c. 1727–1794), British politician
                        • Lord Frederick Cavendish (1729–1803), field marshal
                        • Lord John Cavendish (1734–96), English politician
                      • Lord Charles Cavendish (1704–1783)
                        • Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) scientist, known for the Cavendish experiment
            • Sir Charles Cavendish (c. 1553–1617)
              • William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1592–1676), English soldier, politician and writer; married to Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623–1673), English writer and scientist
                • Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle (1630–1691)

Diana Cavendish (2001-), Witch Prodigy and Member of the New Nine Witches

The explorer Thomas Cavendish "The Navigator" (1555–1592) was descended from Roger Cavendish, Sir John Cavendish's brother.

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.