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Eighteenth Century British Prime Minister No.5

• William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
  • Life: 8 May 1720 – 2 October, 1764
• Administration: 16 November, 1756 – 29 June, 1757
  • Age in office: 36-37 years of age
  • Duration of administration: 226 days
  • Political faction: Whig
  • Predecessor: Duke of Newcastle (I)
  • Successor: Duke of Newcastle (II)

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‘PM on the Pan’ Take Aways

• Chatsworth House: Devonshire inherited this gigantic stately home in Derbyshire and he stayed there regularly. It was only one of his residences, mark you. It was used as Mr Darcy’s ancestral home of Pemberley in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice. See the movie, it’s great fun. (But yep, Devonshire was seriously rich.) How many lavatories did he have in Chatsworth? Dunno, but it’ll be a lot.
• Born for politics: The Cavendish family was one of England’s oldest political families, and young William first became an MP at the age of 21 in 1741. He was a supporter of Walpole and then transferred that support to the Pelham brothers (Henry and his older brother the Duke of Newcastle).
• Not long in office: Devonshire was Britain’s fifth Prime Minister and had the shortest term of office – 7 months – of all Eighteenth century Prime Ministers. He was also the shortest lived British Prime Minister.
• March 1755: He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was himself already an Irish landowner. This post required a great deal of wealth due to the importance of socialising.
• A caretaker Prime Minister: He was a respected and reliable politician. He was appointed First Lord of the Treasury (effectively Prime Minister) in November 1756, but his administration was really just ‘covering’ while George II tried to form a Government with William Pitt the Elder and Henry Fox. In the end Pitt and Newcastle formed a new administration by June 1757 and Devonshire was out.
• Militia Act 1757: This act introduced militia regiments across England and Wales (while the regular soldiers were fight abroad – the Seven Years War was well under way now), which had been without them since the Civil War a century before.
• Died in 1764: He died while taking the waters at Spa in modern Belgium to improve a deteriorating health.

Check out my PMs on the Pan series of posts

Here’s the full list of Eighteenth century British Prime Ministers. Note there were 16 administrations, but 14 Prime Ministers and that’s because two of them held office twice (Newcastle and Rockingham). Two others held office twice (Portland and Pitt the Younger), but their second terms were in the Nineteenth century. The text in bold highlights the name they’re commonly known by.

1. 1721-1742: Sir Robert Walpole
2. 1742-1743: Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington
3. 1743-1754: Henry Pelham
4. 1754-1756: Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle (I)
5. 1756-1757: William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
6. 1757-1762: Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle (II)
7. 1762-1763: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
8. 1763-1765: George Grenville
9. 1765-1766: Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham (I)
10. 1766-1768: William Pitt the Elder, Earl of Chatham
11. 1768-1770: Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
12. 1770-1782: Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (Lord North)
13. 1782: Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham (II)
14. 1782-1783: William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
15. 1783: William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (I)
16. 1783-1801: William Pitt the Younger (I)

Sources for information about the Duke of Devonshire

The Prime Ministers, Iain Dale (2020) (Devonshire article by Elaine Chalus)
UK Govt Past Prime Ministers: Devonshire
Listen to the Duke of Devonshire episode of the Iain Dale’s Presidents, Prime Ministers, Monarchs and Dictators podcast
Wikipedia: Duke of Devonshire