The Duke of Portland | |
|---|---|
 3rd Duke of Portland byThomas Lawrence, c. 1792 | |
| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| In office 31 March 1807 – 4 October 1809 | |
| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | The Lord Grenville |
| Succeeded by | Spencer Perceval |
| Prime Minister of Great Britain | |
| In office 2 April 1783 – 18 December 1783 | |
| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Shelburne |
| Succeeded by | William Pitt the Younger |
| Lord President of the Council | |
| In office 30 July 1801 – 14 January 1805 | |
| Prime Minister | Henry Addington William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Chatham |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Sidmouth |
| Home Secretary | |
| In office 11 July 1794 – 30 July 1801 | |
| Prime Minister | William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | Henry Dundas |
| Succeeded by | Lord Pelham |
| Leader of the House of Lords | |
| In office 2 April 1783 – 18 December 1783 | |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Shelburne |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Temple |
| Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | |
| In office 8 April 1782 – 15 August 1782 | |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Shelburne |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Carlisle |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Temple |
| Lord Chamberlain of the Household | |
| In office 1765–1766 | |
| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | The Earl Gower |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Hertford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1738-04-14)14 April 1738 |
| Died | 30 October 1809(1809-10-30) (aged 71) Westminster, England |
| Resting place | St Marylebone Parish Church |
| Political party | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6, including |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Signature |  |
William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (14 April 1738 – 30 October 1809) was a BritishWhig and then aTory politician during the lateGeorgian era. He served aschancellor of the University of Oxford (1792–1809) and as Prime Minister ofGreat Britain (1783) and then of theUnited Kingdom (1807–1809). The gap of 26 years between his two terms as prime minister is the longestof any British prime minister. He is also an ancestor of KingCharles III through his great-granddaughterCecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
Portland was known before 1762 by thecourtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title for every degree of British nobility: duke, marquess, earl (Earl of Portland), viscount (Viscount Woodstock), and baron (Baron Cirencester). He was the leader of the Portland Whigs faction, which broke with theWhig leadership ofCharles James Fox and joined withWilliam Pitt the Younger in the wake of theFrench Revolution.
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William Henry, Lord Titchfield, was born on 14 April 1738 atBulstrode Park inBuckinghamshire.[1] He was the eldest son ofWilliam Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland and "the richest woman in great Britain",Lady Margaret Cavendish-Harley, and inherited many lands from his mother and his maternal grandmother,[2][3][4] who was the daughter ofJohn Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle.[5] He was educated atWestminster School andChrist Church, Oxford, where he graduatedMA in 1757.[6][5]
In December 1757, the nineteen-year-old Lord Titchfield was sent to study underLord Stormont for a year inWarsaw, accompanied by Stormont's secretary,Benjamin Langlois. Stormont was to superintend all expenditures on his equipage, while Langlois was to hire local masters and direct the studies of the teenaged Titchfield. The books he directed him to read were ancient history, modern history and general law.[7]
In 1759, Titchfield travelled with Langlois through Germany to Italy, spent a year inTurin, and then went on toFlorence. When Stormont was appointed ambassador toVienna in 1763, Langlois went with him as Secretary of the embassy.[8]
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On 8 November 1766, Portland marriedLady Dorothy Cavendish, only daughter ofWilliam Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire andLady Charlotte Boyle. They were parents of nine children, six of whom survived to adulthood:
Portland was elected to sit in theParliament of Great Britain forWeobley in 1761 before he entered theHouse of Lords after he succeeded his father asDuke of Portland the next year. He was associated with the aristocratic Whig Party ofLord Rockingham and served asLord Chamberlain of the Household in Rockingham's first government (1765–1766).[5]
Portland served asLord Lieutenant of Ireland in Rockingham'ssecond ministry (April–August 1782). He faced strong demands for conciliatory measures following years of coercion and taxation brought about by the British government's engagement in theAmerican Revolutionary War.[13] Portland resolved to make concessions and, overcoming the resistance ofLord Shelburne, the Home Secretary to whom he reported, convinced Parliament to repeal theDeclaratory Act and to modifyPoynings' Law.[14] Following Rockingham's death, Portland resigned from Lord Shelburne's ministry along with other supporters ofCharles James Fox.[15]
In April 1783, Portland was selected as the titular head of a coalition government asPrime Minister, whose real leaders were Charles James Fox andLord North. He served asFirst Lord of the Treasury in the ministry until its fall in December that same year. During his tenure, theTreaty of Paris was signed, which formally ended the American Revolutionary War. The government was brought down after it had lost a vote in the House of Lords on its proposed reform of theEast India Company afterGeorge III had let it be known that any peer voting for the measure would be considered his personal enemy.[16]
In 1789, Portland became one of several vice presidents ofLondon'sFoundling Hospital. The charity had become one of the most fashionable of the time, with several notables serving on its board. At its creation, 50 years earlier, Portland's father,William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, had been one of the founding governors, as listed on the charity'sroyal charter granted byGeorge II. The hospital had a mission 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 the popular benefit concerts byGeorge Frideric Handel. In 1793, Portland took over the presidency of the charity from Lord North.
Along with many other conservative Whigs such asEdmund Burke, Portland was deeply uncomfortable with theFrench Revolution; he broke with Fox over that issue and joined Pitt's government asSecretary of State for the Home Department in 1794. When the British fleets atSpithead and the Nore mutinied between April and June 1797, Portland sent magistrates to investigate and report on any connections to seditious societies, though none were found.[17] As Home Secretary, Portland oversaw the administration of patronage and financial inducements, which were often secret, to secure the passage of theAct of Union 1800.[18] He continued to serve in the cabinet until Pitt's death in 1806, from 1801 to 1805 asLord President of the Council[5] and then as aMinister without Portfolio.
In March 1807, after the collapse of theMinistry of all the Talents, Pitt's former supporters returned to power, and Portland was once again an acceptable figurehead for a fractious group of ministers that includedGeorge Canning,Lord Castlereagh,Lord Hawkesbury andSpencer Perceval.
Portland's second government saw the United Kingdom's complete isolation on the continent but also the beginning of its recovery with the start of thePeninsular War. In late 1809, with Portland's health poor and the ministry rocked by thescandalous duel between Canning and Castlereagh, Portland resigned and died shortly thereafter.
He wasRecorder of Nottingham until his death.
He died on 30 October 1809 atBurlington House,Piccadilly, after an operation for akidney stone, and was buried atSt Marylebone Parish Church, London.[19]
He had lived expensively: with an income of £17,000 a year (worth £577,000 in 2005),[20] he had debts at his death computed at £52,000 (£1.76 million in 2005),[20] which were paid off by his succeeding son by selling off some property, includingBulstrode Park.[21]
Along withSir Robert Peel,Lord Aberdeen,Benjamin Disraeli,Marquess of Salisbury,Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman,Bonar Law andNeville Chamberlain, he was the first of eight British prime ministers to die while his direct successor was in office.
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ThePortland Vase of Roman glass was given its name because it was owned by Portland at his family residence at Bulstrode Park.
Portland Parish, in Jamaica, was named after him. The Titchfield School, founded in 1786, is in the parish and is also named in his honour. The school's crest is derived from his personal crest.
Two major streets in Marylebone are named after him:Portland Place andGreat Portland Street. Both were built on land that he once owned.Great Portland Street tube station, opened in 1863, takes its name from the latter.
North Bentinck Arm andSouth Bentinck Arm were named for theBentinck family byGeorge Vancouver in 1793, along with other names on the British Columbia Coast, such asPortland Canal andPortland Channel.
Portland Bay in Victoria, Australia was named in 1800 by the British navigatorJames Grant. The city ofPortland is located on the bay.
The department ofManuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham holds a number of papers relating to him. His personal and political papers (Pw F) are part of the Portland (Welbeck) Collection, and the Portland (London) Collection (Pl) contains his correspondence and official papers, especially in series Pl C.
The Portland Estate Papers held at Nottinghamshire Archives also contain items relating to the 3rd Duke's properties.
The Portland Collection[22] of fine and decorative art includes pieces owned and commissioned by him, including paintings by George Stubbs.
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| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWeobley 1761–1762 With:Hon. Henry Thynne | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Chamberlain 1765–1766 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1782 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Great Britain 2 April 1783 – 18 December 1783 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Lords 1783 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Home Secretary 1794–1801 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord President of the Council 1801–1805 | Succeeded by |
| New office | Minister without Portfolio 1805–1806 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 31 March 1807 – 4 October 1809 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1792–1809 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | President of the Foundling Hospital 1793–1809 | Succeeded by The Prince of Wales later became King George IV |
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire 1795–1809 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by | Duke of Portland 1762–1809 | Succeeded by |
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