CAVENDISH, Philip (d.1743), of Westbury, Hants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

29 Apr. - 6 June 1721
1722 - 1727
1734 - 14 July 1743

Family and Education

illegit. s. of William Cavendish, M.P., 1st Duke of Devonshire, and bro. of Henrietta, Lady Huntingtower.1 m. Anne, da. of Edward Carteret, s.p.

Offices Held

Lt. R.N. 1694, capt. 1701, r.-adm. 1728, v.-adm. 1732, adm. 1736; porter of St. James’s Palace 1705-36, serjeant porter 1736-d.; treasurer of Greenwich Hospital 1721-35; ld. of Admiralty Mar. 1742-Dec. 1743.

Biography

After an uneventful naval career,2 Cavendish was put up for Bere Alston on the Hobart interest in succession to his father-in-law, Edward Carteret. He was opposed by St. John Brodrick, who was returned on petition, in spite of ‘the most warm and personal solicitation’ of Cavendish’s wife’s first cousin, Lord Carteret, and other ministers, except Walpole, who supported Brodrick.3 Brought in by the Government for St. Germans in 1722, he failed to obtain a seat in 1727, though his father-in-law, Edward Carteret, did his best to bring him in on the Post Office interest for Harwich.4 Before the 1734 election Sir Charles Wager wrote to Walpole: ‘The Duke of Devonshire desires, I suppose, that Admiral Cavendish should be chosen with me in the next Parliament for Portsmouth’, for which he was duly returned on the Admiralty interest,5 voting with the Government. After Walpole’s fall he was appointed to the new Admiralty board and was classed as ‘Pelham’ in the Cockpit list of October 1742. He died 14 July 1743.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

  • 1. PCC 18 Jenison.
  • 2. Charnock, Biog. Navalis, iii. 215.
  • 3. St. John Brodrick to Ld. Midleton 6, June 1721, Brodrick mss.
  • 4. HMC Egmont Diary, i. 21.
  • 5. Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss, 8 Dec. 1732.