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William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland

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

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In office
2 April 1783 – 19 December 1783
31 March 18074 October 1809
Preceded by The Earl of Shelburne
The Lord Grenville
Succeeded by William Pitt the Younger
Spencer Perceval

Born 14 April 1738
Nottinghamshire
Died 30 October 1809
Bulstrode Park, Buckinghamshire
Political party Whig, later Tory

William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, (April 14, 1738October 30, 1809) was a British Whig and Tory statesman and Prime Minister. He was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield.

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] and [2]. He was educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford and was elected to Parliament in 1761 before entering the Lords when he succeeded his father as Duke of Portland the next year. Associated with the aristocratic Whig party of Lord Rockingham, Portland served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household in Rockingham's first Government (1765-1766), and then as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Rockingham's second ministry (April-August 1782), but resigned from Lord Shelburne's ministry along with other supporters of Charles James Fox following Rockingham's death.

In April 1783, Portland was brought forward as titular head of a coalition government whose real leaders were Charles James Fox and Lord North. He served as First Lord of the Treasury in this ministry until its fall in December of the same year.

In 1789, Portland became one of several vice presidents of London's Foundling Hospital. This charity had become one of the most fashionable of the time, with several notables serving on its board. At its creation, fifty years earlier, Portland's father, William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, had been one of the founding governors, listed on the charity's royal charter granted by George II. The hospital's mission was 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 popular benefit concerts put on by George Frideric Handel. In 1793, Portland took over the presidency of the charity from the Right Honourable Lord North.

Along with many other conservative Whigs (such as Edmund Burke), Portland was deeply uncomfortable with the French Revolution, and ultimately broke with Fox over this issue, joining Pitt's government as Home Secretary in 1794. He continued to serve in the cabinet until Pitt's death in 1806 - from 1801 to 1805 as Lord President of the Council, and then as a Minister without Portfolio.

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

Portland's second government saw England's complete isolation on the continent, but also the beginning of 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, dying shortly thereafter.

The Portland Vase was given its name due to it having been owned by Portland.

[edit] Marriage and children

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

Portland is a great-great-great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II (see Ancestry of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom).

[edit] The Duke of Portland's First Ministry, April - December 1783

Arms of William Cavendish-Bentinck

[edit] The Duke of Portland's Second Ministry, March 1807 - October 1809

Changes

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
1783
Succeeded by:
William Pitt the Younger
Leader of the House of Lords
1783
Succeeded by:
The Lord Sydney
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
Preceded by:
Minister without Portfolio
1805–1806
Succeeded by:
Preceded by:
The Lord Grenville
Prime Minister
1807–1809
Succeeded by:
Spencer Perceval
Honorary Titles
Preceded by:
Lord North
President of the Foundling Hospital
1793–1809
Succeeded by:
The Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV)
Preceded by:
The Duke of Newcastle
Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire
1795–1809
Succeeded by:
The Duke of Newcastle
Peerage of England
Preceded by:
William Bentinck
Duke of Portland
1762–1809
Succeeded by:
William Bentinck


de:William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3. Duke of Portland

fr:William Cavendish-Bentinck (3ème duc de Portland) it:William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck sv:William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3:e hertig av Portland zh:威廉·卡文狄希-本廷克,第三代波特蘭公爵

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