William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire

Common card · No. 200748

William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (8 May 1720 – 2 October 1764), styled Lord Cavendish before 1729, and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman and nobleman who was briefly nominal Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was the first son of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire and his wife, Catherine (née Hoskins). He is also a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of King Charles III through the king's maternal great-grandmother, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. In October 1762, George III suspected that Devonshire and Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, were plotting against him. He had mistaken a visit by Devonshire as a tender of resignation, but George refused to see him in person. Four days later, George personally struck out Devonshire's name from the list of Privy Councillors. Cavendish's health declined during the 1760s. He visited the town of Spa in the Austrian Netherlands for treatment in its...

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