William Cavendish-Bentinck was the 15th and 20th Prime Minister in 1783 and from 1807 to 1809, was never a successful prime minister. His political career spanned fifty years and several major fluctuations in politics. He led a Whig coalition of Foxites and Northites in 1783, and an essentially Tory administration in 1807.
Background
Portland was the grandson of William Bentinck, first Earl of Portland (1649-1709), who was born in Holland, was a page in the household of Prince William of Orange, and subsequently helped negotiate the princes marriage to Mary, daughter of Charles II of England, in 1677. William Bentinck played a major part in the prince’s invasion of England in 1688 and was active in many roles—courtly, military, and diplomatic. He became King Williams most trusted agent of foreign policy.
William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck was born on 14 April 1738, the son of William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland, and Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley.
Education
He was educated at Westminster and at Christ Church, Oxford. He became M.P. for Weobly, Herefordshire, in 1760, and succeeded to the dukedom at the relatively young age of 24, in 1762. He entered Lord Rockingham’s cabinet as lord chamberlain of the royal household and as privy councillor in 1765.
Career
The political system that emerged during the 1760s was loose and shifting. It was affected in part by the personal rivalries of political leaders and the personal preferences of King George III for one set of ministers or another, as issues of a personal nature influenced the king’s judgment. The disappearance of the Whig-Tory polarity of the early eighteenth century gave the king exceptional freedom to maneuver. Rockingham’s brief administration, which lasted from 1765 to 1766, favored the abandonment of Grenville’s Stamp Act (1765) and might thereby have avoided the conflict that led to the American War of Independence. Subsequently, in 1767, the king appointed William Pitt, the Elder, by then Earl of Chatham, to the premiership, and Parliament became divided into two groups: the King’s party of government; and the Whig opposition of Rockingham, Portland, and Charles Fox. This polarization of politics intensified during the conflict with America in the 1770s.
As it became clear during 1782 that the war against America must be given up, Lord North, who had assumed leadership of the king’s party effectively in 1770, resigned, and Rockingham formed an administration with the support of Chatham. On Rockingham’s appointment in 1782, Portland became lord lieutenant of Ireland. The death of Rockingham in July 1781, and Shelburne’s subsequent failure to win a majority for the terms of the peace treaty he had negotiated, created a crisis from which it emerged that only the followers of North and the Rockinghamites, now led by Portland and Fox, could guarantee a majority in the Commons. Portland’s administration began in April 1783, and the treaty was signed in Paris the following September. This coalition was defeated in December when William Pitt, the Younger, assumed leadership of an alternative coalition more agreeable to King George III. Pitt remained in power for the remainder of his life, with the exception of Henry Addington’s three- year administration (1801-1804).
During the French Revolution, Portland allied himself with Pitt, the Younger. As a reward he was appointed chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1792, and served under Pitt as home secretary between 1794 and 1801. He became a Knight of the Garter and lord lieutenant of Nottinghamshire in 1794. He greatly assisted in the passage of the Act of Union for Ireland between 1798 and 1800, and served as Lord President of the Council (Privy Council) in Addington’s and Pitt’s cabinets from 1801 to 1806, retiring on Pitt’s death in 1806. The “Ministry of All the Talents,” which succeeded Pitt’s ministry, made mistake after mistake. When Pitt’s friends again came to power, the difficulty was to find a prime minister under whom such rival spirits as George Canning and Castlereagh would agree to serve. Portland returned, reluctantly, to public life and served as prime minister from 1807 until he resigned, or was formally replaced, on 4 October 1809, following a life-threatening seizure. With other ministers and leading politicians clashing with the king over the issue of Catholic emancipation, Portland was the only possible candidate for the post of prime minister, although he was no longer fit for the job. He was old and had been in poor health for some time, and he died on 30 October 1809.
Connections
In 1766, he married Lady Dorothy Cavendish, daughter of William, fourth Duke of Devonshire.