Editing William Cavendish (courtier)

{{Short description|English politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| pre-nominals       = [[Sir]]
| post-nominals      = [[Member of parliament|MP]]
| name               = William Cavendish
| image              = William Cavendish c1547.jpg
| caption            = Sir William Cavendish {{c.}} 1547
| birth_date         = c. 1505
| death_date         = 25 October 1557
| nationality        = English
| occupation         = Politician, knight, courtier
| title              = Sir
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* Margaret Bostock (1st), 
* Elizabeth Parker (2nd),
* [[Bess of Hardwick]] (3rd)
}} 
| children           = 16 (including [[William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire]], [[Elizabeth Stuart, Countess of Lennox]], and [[Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury]])
| parents            = Thomas Cavendish<br/>Alice Smith
| relatives          = Sir [[John Cavendish]] (great-grandfather)
}}

'''Sir William Cavendish''' [[Member of parliament|MP]] (c. 1505{{spaced ndash}}25 October 1557) was an English politician, knight and [[courtier]].<ref name="dnb">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Cavendish, William (1505?-1557)|volume=09|page=363|last= Lee |first= Sidney |author-link= Sidney Lee|short=1}}</ref> Cavendish held public office and accumulated a considerable fortune, and became one of [[Thomas Cromwell]]'s "visitors of the monasteries" during the [[dissolution of the monasteries]]. He was MP for [[Thirsk (UK Parliament constituency)|Thirsk]] in 1547.<ref>{{cite web |title=CAVENDISH, Sir William (c.1505-57), of Northaw, Herts. and Chatsworth, Derbys. {{!}} History of Parliament Online |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/cavendish-sir-william-1505-57 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref> In 1547 he married [[Bess of Hardwick]], and the couple began the construction of [[Chatsworth House]] in 1552, a project which would not be completed until after his death. His second son [[William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire|William Cavendish]] (1552–1626) became the first [[Earl of Devonshire]], purchasing his title from the impecunious King [[James VI and I|James I]].

==Early life==
He was the younger son of Thomas Cavendish (1472–1524), who was a senior financial official, the ''[[Clerk of the Pipe]],''{{elucidate|date=October 2024}} in the [[Court of Exchequer Chamber|Court of Exchequer]], and his wife, Alice Smith of Padbrook Hall.<ref name="dnb"/> He was the great-great-great-grandson of Sir [[John Cavendish]] from whom the [[Dukes of Devonshire]] and the [[Dukes of Newcastle]] inherited the family name of Cavendish.<ref name="dnb"/>

==Career==
Cavendish became one of [[Thomas Cromwell]]'s "visitors of the monasteries" when King [[Henry VIII]] annexed the property of the Catholic Church at the end of the 1530s, in the [[dissolution of the monasteries]].<ref name="dnb"/> This followed from his successful career as a financial expert holding public office in the [[Exchequer]], which led to his wealth.<ref name="dnb"/> He was accused of accumulating extra riches unfairly during the dissolution. After Cromwell's fall, he was sent to Ireland to survey and value lands which had fallen to the English during the [[FitzGerald dynasty|FitzGerald]] Rebellion.<ref name="dnb"/><ref>{{cite book | title=Bess of Hardwick, First Lady of Chatsworth | last=Lovell | first=Mary S. | authorlink=Mary S. Lovell | page=43 | year=2005 | publisher=Little, Brown }}</ref>

[[File:Chatsworth showing hunting tower.jpg|thumb|Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, begun by Cavendish]]

He was connected to the Seymour brothers Edward and Thomas, and via them to the family of [[Jane Grey]], but he also took care to send tokens of goodwill to the [[Mary I of England|Lady Mary]]. He was appointed [[Treasurer of the Chamber]] from 1546 to 1553 but, after an audit, was accused of embezzling a significant amount of money. Only his death saved the family from disgrace.

During the reign of Mary I, a favourable biography of [[Thomas Wolsey]] was first published, written from the perspective of one of his closest aides, the one who had taken King Henry news of Wolsey's death. Although for centuries Sir William was said to be its author, historians now attribute it to his older brother [[George Cavendish (writer)|George Cavendish]] (1494–1562).<ref name="dnb"/>

==Family==
William Cavendish had a total of 16 children by three different wives. His first wife was Margaret Bostock; they had five children, but only three daughters survived:
* Catherine, who married Thomas Brooke, son of Lord Cobham
* Mary (died after 1547) 
* Ann, who married Sir Henry Boynton in 1561, the son of [[Edward Bayntun]] and [[Isabel Leigh|Isabel Leigh, Lady Bayntun]], the half-sister of [[Katherine Howard|Queen Katherine Howard]]
* Margaret, died in 1540

In 1542, he was married to Elizabeth Parker; she had three children, none of whom survived. She died after giving birth to a stillborn daughter in 1546.

In 1547, he married [[Bess of Hardwick]].<ref>[[John Pearson (author)|Pearson, John]], ''The Serpent and the Stag'' (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983), p. 6.</ref> He sold his property in [[Suffolk]] and moved to Bess's native county of Derbyshire. He purchased the [[Chatsworth House|Chatsworth]] estate in 1549 and the couple began to build [[Chatsworth House]] in 1552.<ref>Pearson, p. 18.</ref>

In the ten years before he died, they had eight children, six of whom survived infancy: 
* Frances Cavendish (1548–1632), married [[Henry Pierrepont (politician)|Henry Pierrepont]]
* [[Henry Cavendish (politician)|Henry Cavendish]] (1550–1616), eldest son, Knight of the Shire and MP for [[Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Derbyshire]] for over 20 years,<ref name="dnb"/> eventually disinherited by his mother in favour of his younger brother William (ancestor of the branch of the family holding the title of [[Baron Waterpark]])
* [[William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire|William Cavendish]] (1552–1626), the first [[Earl of Devonshire]]
* [[Charles Cavendish (died 1617)|Charles Cavendish]] (1553–1617), father of [[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle]]
* [[Elizabeth Stuart, Countess of Lennox|Elizabeth Cavendish]] (1555–1582), later entered into a controversial marriage with [[Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox]], by whom she was the mother of [[Arbella Stuart]], claimant to the English throne
* [[Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury|Mary Cavendish]] (1556–1632), married [[Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury]]. Their daughter [[Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel|Alethea Talbot Howard]] is an ancestor of the 5th and later Dukes of Norfolk.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Pearson, John, ''The Serpent and the Stag'', Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983.
* Brodhurst, F. (1907). "Sir William Cavendish 1557." ''Derbyshire Archaeological Journal'', 29, pp.&nbsp;81–102. Google Books
* Cavendish, Sir William (c.1505-57), of Northaw, Herts. and Chatsworth, Derbys." HOP. 
* Cox, J.C. (1881). ''The Chronicles of the Collegiate Church Or Free Chapel of All Saints'', Derby, pp. 130. Bemrose & Sons. Google Books
* "Duke of Devonshire," (1790). The Peerage of England, Scotland and Ireland, I, pp.&nbsp;51–52. London. Google Books
* {{cite DNB|wstitle=Cavendish, William (1505?-1557)|volume=09|page=363|last= Lee |first= Sidney |author-link= Sidney Lee|short=1}}
* Lewis, M. (n.d.). "Sir William Cavendish, Burgess of Thirsk, Treasurer of the Chamber of King Henry VIII #37832, b. circa 1505, d. 25 Oct 1557," citing [[Douglas Richardson|Richardson]]; [[Cokayne]]; [[John Burke (genealogist)|Burke]]. ORTNCA. Web.[30]

==External links==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Cavendish, Sir William|volume=5|page=581}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavendish, William}}
[[Category:1500s births]]
[[Category:1557 deaths]]
[[Category:English civil servants]]
[[Category:Cavendish family|William Cavendish]]
[[Category:16th-century English knights]]
[[Category:People associated with the Dissolution of the Monasteries]]
[[Category:English courtiers]]
[[Category:People from Derbyshire]]
[[Category:Court of Henry VIII]]