Cavendish was born in Waterpark, County Cork, Ireland, in 1794. He was the second son of Richard Cavendish, 2nd Baron Waterpark and Juliana Cooper. His elder brother Henry Cavendish, 3rd Baron Waterpark succeeded his father in the baronetcy.
He went into civil service in 1811 for the East India Company. By 1831, he lived in Gwalior, India. He was an envoy in Nagpur by 1835.
He became a director of the East India Company.
This was followed by roles as magistrate in Stafford, deputy lieutenant for Staffordshire, and deputy lieutenant for Buckinghamshire. In 1851, he was High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire.
lieutenant was an organisation set up to establish a colony to be known as Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand. Together with Lord Lyttelton, John Simeon and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, he guaranteed ₤15,000 to the Canterbury Association, which saved it from financial collapse.
He joined the Ecclesiological Society in 1864 and became a committee member.
He resided at Thornton Hall, near Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, and Crakemarsh in Stafford. He died on 18 March 1876 at Thornton Hall. The worth of his probate was ₤160,000.
The locality Cavendish inland from Ashburton on the true right bank of the Ashburton River was named by Edward George Wright after Richard Cavendish.
Mount Cavendish in Christchurch"s Portuguese Hills was named by a marine survey party in early 1850 after Richard Cavendish.
In the 1820s, he was a Member of Parliament. On 27 March 1848, he joined the Canterbury Association and immediately became a member of the management committee.
