Biography of William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire 1720-1764
Paternal Family Tree: Cavendish
Maternal Family Tree: Catherine Hoskyns Duchess Devonshire 1698-1777
On 27 Mar 1718 [his father] William Cavendish 3rd Duke Devonshire (age 19) and [his mother] Catherine Hoskyns Duchess Devonshire (age 19) were married. He the son of [his grandfather] William Cavendish 2nd Duke Devonshire (age 46) and [his grandmother] Rachel Russell Duchess Devonshire (age 44).
On 08 May 1720 William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire was born to William Cavendish 3rd Duke Devonshire (age 21) and Catherine Hoskyns Duchess Devonshire (age 21).
Around 1730. Unknown Painter. Portrait of William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 9).
In 1741 William Hogarth (age 43). Portrait of William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 20).
In 1747 Bishop Richard Terrick (age 37) was elected Bishop of Peterborough through the influence of William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 26) the Prime Minister.
Before 1748 William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 27) and Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle Marchioness Hartington (age 16) were married. She the daughter of Richard Boyle 3rd Earl Burlington (age 53) and Dorothy Savile Countess Burlington (age 48). He the son of William Cavendish 3rd Duke Devonshire (age 49) and Catherine Hoskyns Duchess Devonshire (age 49).
In 1748 [his son] William Cavendish 5th Duke Devonshire was born to William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 27) and [his wife] Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle Marchioness Hartington (age 16).
On 27 Aug 1750 [his daughter] Dorothy Cavendish 3rd Duchess Portland was born to William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 30) and [his wife] Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle Marchioness Hartington (age 18).
In 1752 [his son] Richard Cavendish was born to William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 31) and [his wife] Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle Marchioness Hartington (age 20).
Letters of Horace Walpole. 23 Jun 1752. Arlington Street. To The Hon H S Conway (age 31).
By a letter that I received from my Lady Ailesbury (age 31) two days ago, I flatter myself I shall not have occasion to write to you any more; yet I shall certainly see you with less pleasure than ever, as our meeting is to be attended with a resignation of my little charge (age 3).316 She is vastly well, and I think you will find her grown fat. I am husband enough to mind her beauty no longer, and perhaps you will say husband enough too, in pretending that my love is converted into friendship; but I shall tell you some stories at Park-place of her understanding that will please you, I trust, as much as they have done me.
My Lady Ailesbury says I must send her news, and the whole history of Mr. Seymour (age 22) and Lady Di. Egerton (age 21), and their quarrel, and all that is said on both sides. I can easily tell her all that is said on one side, Mr. Seymour's, who says, the only answer he has ever been able to get from the Duchess or Mr. Lyttelton was, that Di. has her caprices. The reasons she gives, and gave him, were, the badness of his temper and imperiousness of his letters; that he scolded her for the overfondness of her epistles, and was even so unsentimental as to talk of desiring to make her happy, instead of being made so by her. He is gone abroad, in despair, and with an additional circumstance, which would be very uncomfortable to any thing but a true lover; his father refuses to resettle the estate on him, the entail of which was cut off by mutual consent, to make way for the settlements on the marriage.
The Speaker told me t'other day, that he had received a letter from Lord Hyde, which confirms what Mr. Churchill writes me, the distress and poverty of France and the greatness of their divisions. Yet the King's expenses are incredible; Madame de Pompadour (age 30) is continually busied in finding out new journeys and diversions to keep him from falling into the hands of the clergy. The last party of pleasure she made for him, was a stag-hunting; the stag was a man in a skin and horns, worried by twelve men dressed like bloodhounds! I have read of Basilowitz, a Czar of Muscovy, who improved on such a hunt, and had a man in a bearskin worried by real dogs; a more kingly entertainment!
I shall make out a sad Journal of other news; yet I will be like any gazette, and scrape together all the births, deaths, and marriages in the parish. Lady Hartington (age 32) and [his sister] Lady Rachel Walpole (age 25) are brought to bed of sons; [his father-in-law] Lord Burlington (age 58) and Lord Gower (age 57) have had new attacks of palsies: Lord Falkland (age 45) is to marry the Southwark Lady Suffolk;317 and Mr. Watson (age 23), Miss Grace Pelham (age 17). Lady Coventry (age 19) has miscarried of one or two children, and is going on with one or two more, and is gone to France to-day. Lady Townshend (age 44) and Lady Caroline Petersham (age 30) have had their anniversary quarrel, and the Duchess of Devonshire (age 53) has had her secular assembly, which she keeps once in fifty years: she was more delightfully vulgar at it than you can imagine; complained of the wet night, and how the men would dirty the rooms with their shoes; called out at supper to the [his father] Duke (age 53), "Good God! my lord, don't cut the ham, nobody will eat any!" and relating her private menage to Mr. Obnir, she said, "When there's only my lord and I, besides a pudding we have always a dish of Yeast!" I am ashamed to send you such nonsense, or to tell you how the good women at Hampton Court are scandalized at Princess Emily's (age 41) coming to chapel last Sunday in riding-clothes with a dog under her arm; but I am bid to send news: what can we do -,it such a dead time of year? I must conclude, as my Lady Gower did very well t'other day in a letter into the country, "Since the two Misses318 were hanged, and the two Misses319 were married, there is nothing at all talked of." Adieu! My best compliments and my wife's to your two ladies.
Note 315. Now first published.
Note 316. Their daughter, Ann Seymour Conway.
Note 317. Sarah, Duchess-dowager of Suffolk, daughter of Thomas Unwen, Esq. of Southwark.-E.
Note 318. Miss Blandy and Miss Jefferies.
Note 319. The Gunnings. [Maria Gunning Countess Coventry and Elizabeth Gunning Duchess Hamilton and Argyll (age 18)]
On 31 Mar 1754 [his son] George Augustus Henry Cavendish 1st Earl Burlington was born to William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 33) and [his wife] Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle Marchioness Hartington (age 22).
On 08 Dec 1754 [his wife] Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle Marchioness Hartington (age 23) died. Her son [his son] William Cavendish 5th Duke Devonshire (age 6) succeeded 7th Baron Clifford.
On 05 Dec 1755 [his father] William Cavendish 3rd Duke Devonshire (age 57) died. His son William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 35) succeeded 4th Duke Devonshire, 7th Earl Devonshire, 7th Baron Cavendish Hardwick.
In 1756 King George II of Great Britain and Ireland (age 72) created new Garter Knights as follows:
572nd William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 35),
573rd Henry Howard 4th Earl Carlisle (age 61),
574th Hugh Percy 1st Duke Northumberland (age 40),
575th Francis Seymour-Conway 1st Marquess Hertford (age 37).
Before 1764 Thomas Hudson (age 62) (After). Portrait of William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 43).
On 02 Oct 1764 William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire (age 44) died. His son [his son] William Cavendish 5th Duke Devonshire (age 16) succeeded 5th Duke Devonshire, 8th Earl Devonshire, 8th Baron Cavendish Hardwick.
Kings Wessex: Great x 21 Grand Son of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England
Kings Gwynedd: Great x 17 Grand Son of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd
Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 22 Grand Son of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth
Kings Powys: Great x 18 Grand Son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys
Kings England: Great x 11 Grand Son of King Henry IV of England
Kings Scotland: Great x 20 Grand Son of King Duncan I of Scotland
Kings Franks: Great x 18 Grand Son of Louis VII King Franks
Kings France: Great x 14 Grand Son of Philip IV King France
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Cavendish 1st Earl Devonshire 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: William Cavendish 2nd Earl Devonshire 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Keighley
Great x 2 Grandfather: William Cavendish 3rd Earl Devonshire 10 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Edward Bruce 1st Lord Kinloss
Great x 3 Grandmother: Christian Bruce Countess Devonshire
Great x 1 Grandfather: William Cavendish 1st Duke Devonshire 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury 12 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: William Cecil 2nd Earl Salisbury 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Brooke 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Elizabeth Cecil Countess Devonshire 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Howard 1st Earl Suffolk 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Catherine Howard Countess Salisbury 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Mary Dacre 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
GrandFather: William Cavendish 2nd Duke Devonshire 10 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Walter Butler 11th Earl Ormonde 4th Earl Ossory 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Butler Viscount Thurles 10 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Helen Butler Countess Ormonde and Ossory 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 2 Grandfather: James Butler 1st Duke Ormonde 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Poyntz 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Poyntz 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Sydenham 11 x Great Grand Daughter of King John of England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Mary Butler Duchess Devonshire 10 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard Preston 1st Earl Desmond
Great x 2 Grandmother: Elizabeth Preston Duchess Ormonde 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas "Black Tom" Butler 10th Earl Ormonde 3rd Earl Ossory 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Butler 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Sheffield Countess Ormonde and Ossory 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Father: William Cavendish 3rd Duke Devonshire 10 x Great Grand Son of King Henry IV of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Russell 1st Baron Russell 9 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Francis Russell 4th Earl Bedford 10 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Long Baroness Russel Thornhaugh
Great x 2 Grandfather: William Russell 1st Duke Bedford 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Giles Brydges 3rd Baron Chandos 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Catherine Brydges Countess Bedford 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Clinton 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 1 Grandfather: William Russell 10 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Kerr of Ferniehirst 12 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Robert Carr 1st Earl Somerset 13 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Anne Carr Countess of Bedford 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Howard 1st Earl Suffolk 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Frances Howard Countess Essex and Somerset 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Catherine Knyvet Countess Suffolk 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
GrandMother: Rachel Russell Duchess Devonshire 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry IV of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Henry Wriothesley 2nd Earl of Southampton
Great x 3 Grandfather: Henry Wriothesley 3rd Earl of Southampton 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Mary Browne Countess Southampton 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas Wriothesley 4th Earl of Southampton 2nd Earl Chichester 7 x Great Grand Son of King Henry IV of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Vernon 5 x Great Grand Son of King Henry IV of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Vernon Countess Southampton 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry IV of England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Rachel Wriothesley 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry IV of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Daniel de Massue Seigneur de Rouvigny
Great x 2 Grandmother: Rachel Massue Countess Southampton
William Cavendish 4th Duke Devonshire 11 x Great Grand Son of King Henry IV of England
Great x 1 Grandfather: Charles Hoskins
GrandFather: John Hoskins of Oxted
Mother: Catherine Hoskyns Duchess Devonshire