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{{Short description|British politician}}
]
{{Use British English|date=November 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = ]
| name = The Duke of Devonshire
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KG|MBE|TD}}
| image = Lord Devonshire.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Cavendish in 1938
| office1 = Member of the ]
| status1 = Lord Temporal
| term_start1 = 6 May 1938
| predecessor1 = ]
| term_end1 = 26 November 1950
| successor1 = ]
| office2 = ]
| term_start2 = 1936
| term_end2 = 1940
| monarch2 = ]<br/>]
| predecessor2 = ]
| successor2 = ]
| office3 = ]
| term_start3 = 1940
| term_end3 = 1943
| monarch3 = ]
| predecessor3 = ]
| successor3 = ]
| office4 = ]
| term_start4 = 1943
| term_end4 = 1945
| monarch4 = ]
| predecessor4 = ]
| successor4 = ]
| birth_name = Edward William Spencer Cavendish
| birth_date = {{birth date|1895|5|6|df=y}}
| birth_place = ], London<ref name="births">{{cite news |title=Births |work=] |publisher=The Times Digital Archive |date=8 May 1895 |page=1}}</ref>
| death_date = {{death date and age|1950|11|26|1895|5|6|df=y}}
| death_place = ]
| nationality = ]
| party = ]
| alma_mater = ]
| spouse = ]
| children = {{plainlist|
* ]
* ]
* Lady Mary Cavendish
* ]
* ]
}}
| parents = {{plainlist|
* ]
* ]
}}
}}


'''] Sir Edward William Spencer Cavendish ], 10th Duke of Devonshire''' (] ]&ndash;] ]), known as '''Marquess of Hartington''' (1908&ndash;1938), was ] for ] and a Minister in ]'s wartime government. '''Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire''' (6 May 1895 – 26 November 1950), known as the '''Marquess of Hartington''' from 1908 to 1938, was a British politician. He was the head of the Devonshire branch of the ]. He had careers with the army and in politics and was a senior freemason. His sudden death, apparently of a heart attack at the age of fifty-five, occurred in the presence of the physician and suspected serial killer ].


==Early life==
In ] he married ] (1895-1988), the daughter of the ]. They had two sons and three daughters - ] (]-]), ] (]-]), Lady Mary Cavendish (] ]-] ]), Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (]-) and Lady Anne Cavendish (]-).
Edward was born at 37, ], ],{{efn|37 ] in ] is now 117 Park Lane.<ref>{{cite web |title=Park Lane |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol40/pt2/pp264-289#h3-s20 |website=Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings). |publisher=British History Online |access-date=20 August 2024 |date=1980}}</ref>}}<ref name="births"/> the son of ] and his wife, ]. In 1908, his father Victor succeeded as ], thus Edward was styled by the ] Marquess of Hartington. Lord Hartington was educated at ] and ].<ref name=WWW>{{cite book |title=Who Was Who, 1941–1950 |year=1952 |publisher=A & C Black |page=310}}</ref>


He was, after his father's death, the owner of ], and one of the largest private landowners in both ] and ].
He was Chancellor of the ] from ] until ].


==Military career==
His eldest son ]married ] (1920-1948) and would have inherited the title, but he was killed in action in ], and ], the second son, inherited in his place.
The then Marquess of Hartington began service with the ] as a second lieutenant in the ] in 1913.<ref>{{cite book |title=Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1916 |publisher=Kelly's |page=714}}</ref>


Mobilised at the outbreak of the ], he was an aide-de-camp (ADC) on the Personal Staff<ref name=kelly2>{{cite book |title=Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Official and Landed Classes, 1948 |publisher=Kelly's |page=626}}</ref> at the ]'s General Headquarters. In 1916, when promoted captain, he rejoined his regiment, in Egypt, and served in the latter stages of the Dardanelles campaign. He then returned to France, became attached to Military Intelligence, then to the War Office and the British Military Mission in Paris, and was twice mentioned in despatches.<ref name=WWW/> In 1919, he served on the British peace delegation that attended the signing of the ] and was appointed ].<ref name=WWW/> He also became a knight of the French ].<ref name=WWW/>
{{PeerNavbox | Title=] | Prev=] | Next=]}}


He continued serving after the war with his regiment, which became 24 (Derbyshire Yeomanry) Armoured Car Company of the ] in 1923. He was promoted major in 1932, and became lieutenant colonel in command in 1935.<ref name=kelly2/> He was awarded the ].<ref name=WWW/> He was also Honorary Colonel of the ] of the ] from 1917 to 1937, and of its successor, the ] of the ].<ref name=kelly2/>
{{start box}}
{{succession box | title=] | before=] | after=] | years=1947&ndash;1950}}
{{end box}}


==Political career==
]
He unsuccessfully stood as a Conservative parliamentary candidate twice, in the ] for ] and in ] for ], before gaining the latter seat in 1923 and holding it until he succeeded to his father's peerage and entered the ] in 1938. He was subsequently a minister in ]'s ] as a ], for India and Burma (1940–1943) and for the Colonies (1943–1945).<ref name=WWW/>
]

]
He also served in Derbyshire local government. He was appointed a ] for the county in 1917, and a ] in 1936,<ref name=kelly>{{cite book |title=Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1948 |publisher=Kelly's |page=626}}</ref> ultimately becoming the county's ] from 1938 until his death.<ref name=WWW/> He also served as Mayor of ] in 1920–1921.<ref name=kelly/>
]

]
==Other civil posts==
]
He was chairman of the ] in 1936 and was ] of the ] and Chancellor of the ] from 1938 until 1950.<ref name=WWW/> He also had company directorships with ] of Britain and the ].<ref name=kelly/> He served as president of the ] in 1948.<ref name=WWW/>

He was a ] and was ] of the ] from 1947 to 1950.

==Marriage and children==
In 1917, he married ], granddaughter of Prime Minister ]. They had five children:<ref>Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.</ref>

*] (10 December 1917 – 10 September 1944), married ], sister of ]; ] in ]
*] (2 January 1920 – 3 May 2004), married the Hon. ], youngest daughter of ]
*Lady Mary Cavendish (6 November 1922 – 17 November 1922)
*] (24 April 1926 – 15 September 2018)
*] (6 November 1927 – 9 August 2010), a prison visitor; married Michael Lambert Tree<ref>Eve Colpus, , ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 2014; online edn, Jan 2015, accessed 20 April 2017.</ref>

The Duke's sister ] was married to Prime Minister ]. The Duke's younger brother ] was married to American dancer ], sister of ].

==Death==
] - grave of Edward, 10th Duke of Devonshire, KG, MBE, TD (1895–1950)]]
On 26 November 1950, he suffered a heart attack and died at his home ], ],<ref>{{cite news |title=The Duke of Devonshire |work=] |publisher=The Times Digital Archive |date=27 November 1950 |page=8 }}</ref> in the presence of his ], ], the suspected ].<ref name=Cullen>Cullen, Pamela V., ''Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams'', London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, {{ISBN|1-904027-19-9}}.</ref> Despite the fact that the duke had not seen a doctor in the 14 days before his death, the ] was not notified as he should have been. Adams signed the ] stating that the Duke died of ].

Thirteen days earlier, ] – another patient of Adams – had also died. Historian Pamela Cullen speculates that as the Duke was the head of British freemasonry, Adams – a member of the fundamentalist ] – would have been motivated to withhold the necessary vital treatment,<ref>Cullen, pp. 97–101.</ref> since the "Grandmaster of England would have been seen by some of the Plymouth Brethren as ] incarnate".<ref>Cullen, p. 100.</ref> No proper police investigation was ever conducted into the death, but the duke's son, ], later said "it should perhaps be noted that this doctor was not appointed to look after the health of my two younger sisters, who were then in their teens";<ref name=Cullen/> Adams had a reputation for grooming older patients in order to extract bequests.

Adams was tried in 1957 for Morrell's murder but controversially acquitted.<ref name=Cullen/><ref>Devlin, Patrick. ''Easing the passing: The trial of Doctor John Bodkin Adams'', London, The Bodley Head, 1985.</ref> The prosecutor was ] ], a distant cousin of the Duke (via their shared ancestor, ]).<ref name=Cullen/> Cullen has questioned why Manningham-Buller failed to question Adams regarding the Duke's death, and suggests that he was wary of drawing attention to Prime Minister ] (the Duke's brother-in-law) and specifically to his wife who was having an extramarital affair with ] at the time.<ref>Cullen, p. 617.</ref>

] pathologist ] linked Adams to 163 suspicious deaths in total, which would make him a precursor to ].<ref name=Cullen/>

The Duke's body was buried in the churchyard at ], near Chatsworth.

==Estate==
In 1946 the Duke transferred most of his assets to his only surviving son in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the heavy ] which the 9th Duke had had to pay in 1908. The Duke's surprise death less than four years later meant that his estate had to pay 80% death duties on the value of the entire estate. Had he lived longer, the value assessed to tax would have been progressively reduced to zero. The tax liability led to the transfer of ] to the ], and the sale of many of the Devonshires' accumulated assets, including tens of thousands of acres of land, and many works of art and rare books.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,862691-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628221707/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,862691-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 June 2011 |magazine=Time |title=GREAT BRITAIN: Death and Taxes |date=26 August 1957}}</ref> Whilst the majority of the Duke's property transferred to the next Duke, his private funds of £796,473 8s. 9d. were willed to his widow Mary Alice, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.

==See also==
* ]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | marquess-of-hartington-1 | the Duke of Devonshire }}

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Latest revision as of 19:18, 3 December 2024

British politician

His GraceThe Duke of DevonshireKG MBE TD
Cavendish in 1938
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
6 May 1938 – 26 November 1950
Preceded byThe 9th Duke of Devonshire
Succeeded byThe 11th Duke of Devonshire
Under-Secretary of State
for Dominion Affairs
In office
1936–1940
MonarchsEdward VIII
George VI
Preceded bySir Douglas Hacking, Bt
Succeeded byGeoffrey Shakespeare
Under-Secretary of State
for India and Burma
In office
1940–1943
MonarchGeorge VI
Preceded bySir Hugh O'Neill, Bt
Succeeded byThe Earl of Munster
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office
1943–1945
MonarchGeorge VI
Preceded byHarold Macmillan
Succeeded byArthur Creech Jones
Personal details
BornEdward William Spencer Cavendish
(1895-05-06)6 May 1895
Mayfair, London
Died26 November 1950(1950-11-26) (aged 55)
Eastbourne
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
SpouseLady Mary Gascoyne-Cecil
Children
Parents
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge

Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (6 May 1895 – 26 November 1950), known as the Marquess of Hartington from 1908 to 1938, was a British politician. He was the head of the Devonshire branch of the House of Cavendish. He had careers with the army and in politics and was a senior freemason. His sudden death, apparently of a heart attack at the age of fifty-five, occurred in the presence of the physician and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.

Early life

Edward was born at 37, Park Lane, Mayfair, the son of Victor Cavendish and his wife, Lady Evelyn Petty-Fitzmaurice. In 1908, his father Victor succeeded as the 9th Duke of Devonshire, thus Edward was styled by the courtesy title Marquess of Hartington. Lord Hartington was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.

He was, after his father's death, the owner of Chatsworth House, and one of the largest private landowners in both Great Britain and Ireland.

Military career

The then Marquess of Hartington began service with the Territorial Army as a second lieutenant in the Derbyshire Yeomanry in 1913.

Mobilised at the outbreak of the First World War, he was an aide-de-camp (ADC) on the Personal Staff at the British Expeditionary Force's General Headquarters. In 1916, when promoted captain, he rejoined his regiment, in Egypt, and served in the latter stages of the Dardanelles campaign. He then returned to France, became attached to Military Intelligence, then to the War Office and the British Military Mission in Paris, and was twice mentioned in despatches. In 1919, he served on the British peace delegation that attended the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and was appointed MBE. He also became a knight of the French Legion of Honour.

He continued serving after the war with his regiment, which became 24 (Derbyshire Yeomanry) Armoured Car Company of the Royal Tank Regiment in 1923. He was promoted major in 1932, and became lieutenant colonel in command in 1935. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration. He was also Honorary Colonel of the 6th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters from 1917 to 1937, and of its successor, the 40th (Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion of the Royal Engineers.

Political career

He unsuccessfully stood as a Conservative parliamentary candidate twice, in the 1918 general election for North East Derbyshire and in 1922 for West Derbyshire, before gaining the latter seat in 1923 and holding it until he succeeded to his father's peerage and entered the House of Lords in 1938. He was subsequently a minister in Winston Churchill's wartime government as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, for India and Burma (1940–1943) and for the Colonies (1943–1945).

He also served in Derbyshire local government. He was appointed a JP for the county in 1917, and a Deputy Lieutenant in 1936, ultimately becoming the county's Lord Lieutenant from 1938 until his death. He also served as Mayor of Buxton in 1920–1921.

Other civil posts

He was chairman of the Overseas Settlement Board in 1936 and was High Steward of the University of Cambridge and Chancellor of the University of Leeds from 1938 until 1950. He also had company directorships with The Alliance Insurance Company of Britain and the Bank of Australasia. He served as president of the Zoological Society of London in 1948.

He was a freemason and was Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England from 1947 to 1950.

Marriage and children

In 1917, he married Lady Mary Gascoyne-Cecil, granddaughter of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. They had five children:

The Duke's sister Dorothy was married to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. The Duke's younger brother Charles was married to American dancer Adele Astaire, sister of Fred Astaire.

Death

St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor - grave of Edward, 10th Duke of Devonshire, KG, MBE, TD (1895–1950)

On 26 November 1950, he suffered a heart attack and died at his home Compton Place, Eastbourne, in the presence of his general practitioner, John Bodkin Adams, the suspected serial killer. Despite the fact that the duke had not seen a doctor in the 14 days before his death, the coroner was not notified as he should have been. Adams signed the death certificate stating that the Duke died of natural causes.

Thirteen days earlier, Edith Alice Morrell – another patient of Adams – had also died. Historian Pamela Cullen speculates that as the Duke was the head of British freemasonry, Adams – a member of the fundamentalist Plymouth Brethren – would have been motivated to withhold the necessary vital treatment, since the "Grandmaster of England would have been seen by some of the Plymouth Brethren as Satan incarnate". No proper police investigation was ever conducted into the death, but the duke's son, Andrew, later said "it should perhaps be noted that this doctor was not appointed to look after the health of my two younger sisters, who were then in their teens"; Adams had a reputation for grooming older patients in order to extract bequests.

Adams was tried in 1957 for Morrell's murder but controversially acquitted. The prosecutor was Attorney-General Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, a distant cousin of the Duke (via their shared ancestor, George Cavendish). Cullen has questioned why Manningham-Buller failed to question Adams regarding the Duke's death, and suggests that he was wary of drawing attention to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (the Duke's brother-in-law) and specifically to his wife who was having an extramarital affair with Robert Boothby at the time.

Home Office pathologist Francis Camps linked Adams to 163 suspicious deaths in total, which would make him a precursor to Harold Shipman.

The Duke's body was buried in the churchyard at Edensor, Derbyshire, near Chatsworth.

Estate

In 1946 the Duke transferred most of his assets to his only surviving son in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the heavy death duties which the 9th Duke had had to pay in 1908. The Duke's surprise death less than four years later meant that his estate had to pay 80% death duties on the value of the entire estate. Had he lived longer, the value assessed to tax would have been progressively reduced to zero. The tax liability led to the transfer of Hardwick Hall to the National Trust, and the sale of many of the Devonshires' accumulated assets, including tens of thousands of acres of land, and many works of art and rare books. Whilst the majority of the Duke's property transferred to the next Duke, his private funds of £796,473 8s. 9d. were willed to his widow Mary Alice, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.

See also

Notes

  1. 37 Park Lane in Mayfair is now 117 Park Lane.

References

  1. ^ "Births". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 8 May 1895. p. 1.
  2. "Park Lane". Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings). British History Online. 1980. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  3. ^ Who Was Who, 1941–1950. A & C Black. 1952. p. 310.
  4. Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1916. Kelly's. p. 714.
  5. ^ Kelly's Handbook of the Titled, Official and Landed Classes, 1948. Kelly's. p. 626.
  6. ^ Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1948. Kelly's. p. 626.
  7. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
  8. Eve Colpus, Tree, Lady Anne Evelyn Beatrice (1927–2010)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2014; online edn, Jan 2015, accessed 20 April 2017.
  9. "The Duke of Devonshire". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 27 November 1950. p. 8.
  10. ^ Cullen, Pamela V., Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams, London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, ISBN 1-904027-19-9.
  11. Cullen, pp. 97–101.
  12. Cullen, p. 100.
  13. Devlin, Patrick. Easing the passing: The trial of Doctor John Bodkin Adams, London, The Bodley Head, 1985.
  14. Cullen, p. 617.
  15. "GREAT BRITAIN: Death and Taxes". Time. 26 August 1957. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byCharles Frederick White Member of Parliament for West Derbyshire
1923–1938 		Succeeded byHenry Hunloke
Political offices
Preceded bySir Douglas Hacking, Bt Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
1936–1940 		Succeeded byGeoffrey Shakespeare
Preceded bySir Hugh O'Neill, Bt Under-Secretary of State for India and Burma
1940–1943 		Succeeded byThe Earl of Munster
Preceded byHarold Macmillan Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
1943–1945 		Succeeded byArthur Creech Jones
Honorary titles
Preceded byVictor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire
1938–1950 		Succeeded bySir Ian Walker-Okeover, Bt
Masonic offices
Preceded byHenry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood Grand Master of the
United Grand Lodge of England
1947–1950 		Succeeded byRoger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough
Academic offices
Preceded byVictor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire Chancellor of the University of Leeds
1938–1950 		Succeeded byMary, Princess Royal
Peerage of England
Preceded byVictor Cavendish Duke of Devonshire
1938–1950
Member of the House of Lords
(1938–1950) 		Succeeded byAndrew Cavendish
Earl of Devonshire
1938–1950
Baron Cavendish
1938–1950
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded byVictor Cavendish Earl of Burlington
1938–1950 		Succeeded byAndrew Cavendish
Baron Cavendish of Keighley
1938–1950
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