The Duke of Portland | |
|---|---|
 The Duke of Portland, circa 1900. | |
| Master of the Horse | |
| In office 9 August 1886 – 11 August 1892 | |
| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Cork |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Oxenbridge |
| In office 16 July 1895 – 4 December 1905 | |
| Monarchs | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Cork |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Sefton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 December 1857 Dunkeld,Perthshire, Scotland |
| Died | 26 April 1943(1943-04-26) (aged 85) Welbeck Abbey,Nottinghamshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children |
|
William Arthur Charles Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland,KG, GCVO, GCStJ, TD, PC, DL (28 December 1857 – 26 April 1943) was a British landowner, courtier, andConservative politician. He notably served asMaster of the Horse between 1886 and 1905.
Portland was the son of Lt.-Gen. Arthur Cavendish-Bentinck (1819–1877) by his first wife Elizabeth Sophia Hawkins-Whitshed, granddaughter of AdmiralSir James Hawkins-Whitshed. His paternal grandfather wasLord Charles Bentinck, third son of Prime MinisterWilliam Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland by his wifeLady Dorothy Cavendish, daughter ofWilliam Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire. Portland's mother died only a few days after his birth.
He was educated atEton.
He inherited the Portland estates, based aroundWelbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, from his cousinWilliam Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland, in 1879. He also succeeded his stepmother as secondBaron Bolsover in 1893. His half-sister,Lady Ottoline Morrell, was a society hostess and patron of the arts associated with theBloomsbury Group.
He owned 183,000 acres with 101,000 acres in Caithness with 43,000 acres in Nottinghamshire and 35,000 acres in Northumberland.[1]
Portland initially embarked on a military career and served as a lieutenant in theColdstream Guards[2] from 1877 to 1880, and then as lieutenant-colonel of the part-timeHonourable Artillery Company from 1881 to 1889.[3] He was honorary colonel of the1st Lanarkshire Artillery Volunteers from 1884 to 1891,[4] of the4th (Royal Sherwood Foresters Militia) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, from 1889 and itsSpecial Reserve successor from 1908,[3] and of the7th (Robin Hood) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Volunteers, laterTerritorial Force) from 1898.[4][5]
He sat on the Conservative benches in theHouse of Lords and held office asMaster of the Horse underLord Salisbury from 1886[6] to 1892[citation needed] and from 1895[7] to 1902 and underArthur Balfour from 1902 to 1905.[citation needed] In 1886, he was sworn of thePrivy Council.[8]
He was made a Knight Grand Cross of theRoyal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1896,[9] and was a holder of theRoyal Victorian Chain.[3] In 1900 he was appointed aKnight Companion of the Garter,[10] receiving the insignia in an investiture byQueen Victoria atWindsor Castle on 16 March 1900.[11] He was appointed a Knight of Justice of theOrder of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England (KStJ) in July 1901.[12] He also held the Grand Cross of theOrder of Charles III (Spain), 1st ClassOrder of St Sava (Serbia) the Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Crown (Belgium),[3] and the Grand Cross of theOrder of St Stephen (Austria-Hungary).[4]
The Portlands visitedBritish India to attend the1903 Delhi Durbar held in January 1903 to celebrated the succession of KingEdward VII as Emperor of India.[13]
He wasLord-Lieutenant of Caithness from 1889 to 1919,Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire from 1898 to 1939, aDeputy Lieutenant ofAyrshire, and a trustee of theBritish Museum.
The Portlands receivedArchduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria atWelbeck Abbey for a week in 1913 when the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne visited England. During the stay he took the Archduke shooting on the estate when, according to Portland's memoirs,Men, Women and Things:
"One of the loaders fell down. This caused both barrels of the gun he was carrying to be discharged, the shot passing within a few feet of the archduke and myself. I have often wondered whether theGreat War might not have been averted, or at least postponed, had the archduke met his death there andnot at Sarajevo the following year."[14]
From 1937 to 1943 he wasChancellor of the Order of the Garter.[citation needed] At the coronation ofKing George VI Portland carried the crown ofQueen Elizabeth, whose mother (theCountess of Strathmore and Kinghorne) was his cousin. It was at his estate in Langwell that the Sunderland Flying boat carrying theDuke of Kent (the King's youngest brother) crashed while en route to aRAF Base inIceland.
Portland inherited the estate andstud farm nearClumber Park inNorth Nottinghamshire. Among the horses he owned wasSt. Simon, who won the 1884Ascot Gold Cup. He also bred and ownedAyrshire andDonovan, who won the 1888 and 1889 runnings ofThe Derby.
in 1890 Portland built "The Winnings", a row of 6almshouses atWelbeck Abbey, with the proceeds of his horse racing successes.[15][16]
.jpg)
Portland marriedWinifred Anna Dallas-Yorke, daughter of Thomas Dallas-Yorke,DL,JP, ofWalmsgate,Lincolnshire, on 11 June 1889. They had three children:[citation needed]
Their London residence (from 1890) was at 3 Grosvenor Square, where they lived until the building was demolished in 1936.[18]
Portland died in April 1943, aged 85, and was interred at the traditional burial place of the Dukes of Portland in the churchyard ofSt Winifred's Church atHolbeck.He was succeeded by his eldest son, William. The Duchess of Portland died in July 1954, aged 90.[citation needed] The department ofManuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham holds estate papers of the 6th Duke in the Portland (London) Collection (Pl).[2]
The Duke and Duchess of Portland were custodians and collectors of fine art. They were respectful and generous to the hundreds of staff they employed. One former servant, George Slingsby, who was employed as a footman at Welbeck Abbey before the First World War, wrote that "most of their staff had a job for life, were well cared for in the estate’s own hospital block when they were ill, and at such times nothing was deducted from their wages, at a time when the working classes had no privileges, or indeed any help from the Government."[19]
His probate was sworn in 1943 at£201,516 (equivalent to about £11,400,000 in 2023), with his son as his heir.
 |
|
Portland was author of the following memoirs:
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Master of the Horse 1886–1892 | Succeeded by |
| Master of the Horse 1895–1905 | Succeeded by | |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Caithness 1889–1919 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire 1898–1939 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the Order of the Garter 1937–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Senior Privy Counsellor 1942–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by | Duke of Portland 1879–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Baron Bolsover 1893–1943 | Succeeded by |
| Bishops of Salisbury (1477–1550) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Lay chancellors (1551–1671) | ||
| Bishops of Salisbury (1671–1837) | ||
| Bishops of Oxford (1837–1937) | ||
| Knights and Ladies Companion (since 1937) | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
