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Authorised form of nameCavendish; William (1617 - 1684); 3rd Earl of Devonshire; politician
Dates1617 - 1684
NationalityBritish
Place of birthChatsworth, Derbyshire, England, Europe
Date of birth10 October 1617
Place of deathRoehampton House, Surrey, England, Europe
Date of death23 November 1684
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
Edensor near Chatsworth, Derbyshire, England, Europe
ActivityEducation:
Educated by his mother and Thomas Hobbes
Career:
Travelled abroad with Hobbes (1634-1637); Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire (1638-1642, 1660-1684); High Steward of Ampthill (1640); Joint Commissioner of Array for Leicestershire (1642); expelled from Parliament (1642); went abroad and his estates were sequestrated; returned and lived in retirement (1646); Steward of Tutbury (1660) and of High Peak (1661); Commissioner of Trade (1668-1669)
Honours:
KB 1625
Membership categoryOriginal Fellow
Date of election20/05/1663
Other Royal Society activityWas solicited in January 1668 by the President, Viscount Brouncker, as a Fellow likely willing and able to help with the construction and establishment of a Society building
RelationshipsParents: William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire and Christiana; succeeded his father (1628)
Married: Elizabeth Cecil
Children: William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire (FRS 1663); Lady Anne Cavendish
OtherInfoCavendish showed support for the Royalists during his time in the House of Lords and was approached by Queen Henrietta Maria in her attempts to build a royalist faction in parliament. His brother Charles Cavendish was killed during the Civil War in a skirmish in Lincolnshire, however the earl himself did not go to battle. Throughout the Protectorate, he did financially support royals and supporters in exile without actively participating in plots or conspiracies. After the Restoration, Cavendish remained fairly inactive in his political roles.

As a Commissioner of Trade, Cavendish was a member of the Counil of Trade, which carried the responsibility for trade and plantation affairs and contributed to furthering the government's colonial interests. The Council's orders and tasks fell within a broad remit and included finding ways in which to take and enslave people to bring to the colonies, mediating between the Royal African Company and the colonies, as well as enforcing the 'reeducation' of Native Americans and enslaved people in the colonised regions.
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SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; GEC; ODNB
Note:
ODNB (Stater) gives an alternative place of birth as Devonshire House, London.
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/16203838
CodeNA5787
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
MS/390/60Bond of William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, to the Treasurer of the Royal Society16 December 1674
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