William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland — Whig into Tory

Abstract

William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck was born on 14 April 1738, the eldest son and third child of the 2nd Duke of Portland and of Margaret Cavendish-Holles-Harley, granddaughter of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, a prominent minister under Queen Anne. William’s great-grandfather, Hans William Bentinck, had come over from the Netherlands with William III, in 1689, and was his closest friend and most influential adviser, being created Earl of Portland, and awarded extensive estates in several English counties. The title was upped to a dukedom by George I in 1716, and the family holdings were further enlarged, when the second Duchess inherited Welbeck Abbey and an income of £12,000 a year from her mother and her cousin, the third Earl of Oxford. The second Duke is described by the historian, A.S. Turberville, as ‘retiring, unambitious, inconspicuous, a much less remarkable personality than his wife…but wise, gentle, and kindly’ The Duchess was a much stronger personality, who outlived her husband by 23 years, and — through her control of the family purse-strings — was something of a restraining influence on her elder son up till and even after his first premiership.