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NEWCASTLE, DUKES OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 471 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NEWCASTLE, See also:DUKES OF . Within the space of a See also:century there were no less than four successive creations of dukes of Newcastle in the See also:British See also:peerage. See also:William See also:Cavendish (see below), See also:nephew of the 1st See also:earl of See also:Devonshire, was raised to the dignity of See also:duke of Newcastle-upon-See also:Tyne in 1665. His son and successor See also:Henry (163o—1691) died leaving daughters only, and one of these married See also:John See also:Holles (1662—1711), earl of See also:Clare, who was created duke in 1694. This duke died also without male issue, leaving his estates to his See also:sister's son, See also:Thomas See also:Pelham (see below), who, with other dignities, had the See also:title of duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne conferred on him in 1715, and a second and similar ducal title (that of Newcastle-under-Lyme) in 1756. The first dukedom became See also:extinct at his See also:death, but the second title was granted him with See also:remainder to Henry See also:Fiennes See also:Clinton, earl of See also:Lincoln, at once his nephew and nephew-in-See also:law. From his See also:heir, who ranks as the 2nd duke, Henry Fiennes Clinton (172o—1794), the dukedom passed through See also:father and son from Thomas Pelham Clinton (d. 1795), Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham Clinton (1785—1851), Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham Clinton (1811—1864), Henry Pelham See also:Alexander (1834—1879), to the 7th duke, Henry Pelham See also:Archibald See also:Douglas Pelham Clinton (b. 1864). The three See also:principal dukes are more fully noticed below. I. WILLIAM CAVENDISH, duke of Newcastle (1592-1676), eldest surviving son of See also:Sir See also:Charles Cavendish and of See also:Catherine, daughter of See also:Cuthbert, See also:Lord Ogle, and See also:grandson of Sir William Cavendish and " Bess of Hardwick," was See also:born in 1592 and educated at St John's See also:College, See also:Cambridge.

On the occasion of the creation of See also:

Prince Henry as prince of See also:Wales in 1610 he was made a See also:knight of the See also:Bath, subsequently travelled with Sir Henry See also:Wotton, then See also:ambassador to the duke of See also:Savoy, and on his return married his first wife, See also:Elizabeth, daughter of William See also:Basset of Blore, See also:Staffordshire, and widow of Henry See also:Howard, 3rd son of the earl of See also:Suffolk. His See also:fortune was immense, and he several times entertained See also:James I. and Charles I. with See also:great magnificence at Welbeck and See also:Bolsover. On the 3rd of See also:November 1620 he was created See also:Viscount See also:Mansfield, on the 7th of See also:March 1628 earl of Newcastle, and in 1629 the See also:barony of Ogle was restored to his See also:mother, this title, together with an See also:estate of £3000 per annum, descending to him. In 1638 he was made See also:governor of the prince of Wales, and in 1639 a privy councillor. When the Scottish See also:war See also:broke out he assisted the See also:king with a See also:loan of £1o,000 and a See also:troop of volunteer See also:horse, consisting of 120 knights and gentlemen. In 1641 he was implicated in the See also:Army See also:Plot, and in consequence withdrew for a See also:time from the See also:court. He was sent by Charles on the 11th of See also:January 1642 to seize See also:Hull, but was refused admittance. When the king declared open war, Newcastle was given the command of the four See also:northern counties, and had the See also:power conferred on him of making knights. He maintained troops at his own expense, and having occupied Newcastle kept open communications with the See also:queen, and despatched to the king his See also:foreign supplies. In November 1642 he advanced into See also:Yorkshire, raised the See also:siege of See also:York, and compelled See also:Fairfax to retire after attacking him at Tadcaster. Subsequently his plans were checked by the latter's recapture of See also:Leeds in January 1643, and he retired to York. He escorted the queen, who returned from abroad in See also:February, to York, and subsequently captured See also:Wakefield, See also:Rotherham and See also:Sheffield, though failing at Leeds, but his successes were once more ravished from him by Fairfax.

In See also:

June he advanced again, defeated the Fairfaxes to Adwalton See also:Moor on the 3oth of June, and obtained See also:possession of all Yorkshire except Hull and Wressel See also:Castle. He might now have joined the king against See also:Essex, but continued his See also:campaign in the See also:north, advancing into See also:Lincolnshire to attack the eastern association, and taking See also:Gainsborough and Lincoln. Thence he returned to besiege Hull, and in his absencethe force which he had See also:left in Lincolnshire was defeated at Winceby by See also:Cromwell on the r Ith of See also:October 1643, which caused the loss of the whole See also:county. On the 27th of October 1643 he was created a See also:marquis. Next See also:year his position was further threatened by the advance of the Scots. Against prevailing See also:numbers he could do little but harass and cut off supplies. He retreated to York, where the three armies of the Scots, Fairfax and See also:Manchester surrounded him. On the 1st of See also:July See also:Rupert raised the siege, but on the next See also:day threw away his success by engaging the three armies in See also:battle, contrary to Newcastle's See also:desire, at See also:Marston Moor. After this disaster, notwithstanding the entreaties of the king and the remonstrances of Rupert, Newcastle immediately announced his intention of abandoning the cause and of quitting See also:England. He sailed from See also:Scarborough accompanied by a considerable following, including his two sons and his See also:brother, resided at See also:Hamburg from July 1644 to February 1645, and removed in See also:April to See also:Paris, where he lived for three years. There he married as his second wife See also:Margaret (see below), daughter of Sir Thomas See also:Lucas of St John's, See also:Colchester. He left in 1648 for See also:Rotterdam with the intention of joining the prince of Wales in command of the revolted See also:navy, and finally took up his See also:abode at See also:Antwerp, where he remained till the Restoration.

In April 165o he was appointed a member of Charles II.'s privy See also:

council, and in opposition to See also:Hyde advocated the agreement with the Scots. In Antwerp he established his famous See also:riding-school, exercised " the See also:art of See also:manage," and published his first See also:work on See also:horsemanship, Methode et invention nouvelle de See also:dresser See also:les chevaux (1658, 2nd ed., 1747; translated as A See also:General See also:System of Horsemanship, 1743). At the Restoration Newcastle returned to England, and succeeded in regaining the greater See also:part of his estates, though burdened with debts, his wife estimating his See also:total losses in the war at the enormous sum of £941,303. He was reinstated in the offices he had filled under Charles I.; was invested in 166, with the Garter which had been bestowed upon him in 165o, and was advanced to a dukedom on the 16th of March 1665. He retired, however, from public See also:life and occupied himself with his estate and with his favourite pursuit of training horses. He established a racecourse near Welbeck, and published another work on horsemanship, A New Method and Extraordinary Invention to See also:Dress Horses and Work them according to Nature . . . (1667). He wrote also several comedies, The See also:Country See also:Captain and TheVarietie (1649), The Humorous Lovers and The Triumphant Widow (1697). With See also:Dryden's assistance he translated See also:Moliere's L'Etourdi as Sir See also:Martin See also:Mar-All (1688). He contributed scenes to his wife's plays, and poems of his See also:composition are to be found among her See also:works; and he was the See also:patron of See also:Jonson, See also:Shirley, See also:Davenant, Dryden, See also:Shadwell and See also:Flecknoe, and of See also:Hobbes, Gassendi and See also:Descartes. He died on the 25th of See also:December 1676, and was buried in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey.

By his first wife he had ten See also:

children, of whom one son, Henry, survived him and became 2nd duke of Newcastle, dying in 1691 without male issue; the title then became extinct and the estates passed to his third daughter Margaret, wife of John Holies, earl of Clare, created duke of Newcastle in 1694. As a See also:commander in the See also:field See also:Clarendon spoke contemptuously of Newcastle as " a very lamentable See also:man, and as See also:fit to be a general as a See also:bishop."' It can hardly be denied, however, that his achievements in the north were of great military value to the king's cause. For politics he had no See also:taste, and adhered to the king's cause merely from motives of See also:personal See also:loyalty, from hatred of "whatsoever was like to disturb the public See also:peace," and because the See also:monarchy " was the See also:foundation and support of his own greatness." Even Clarendon concedes that he was " a very See also:fine See also:gentleman," which is perhaps the best See also:summary of his See also:character. His second wife, Margaret, duchess of Newcastle (c. 1625-1673), had been maid of See also:honour to Henrietta Maria, and after she married the duke in 1645 they continued to cherish a mutual admiration of a very exaggerated character, each regarding the other as endowed with transcendent merits both of See also:person 1 See also:Calendar of Clarendon Papers, ii. 63. and mind. The duchess cultivated See also:literary composition with exuberant fervour, and kept a bevy of maids of honour obliged to be ready at all See also:hours " to See also:register her See also:Grace's conceptions." See also:Walpole speaks of her as a " fertile See also:pedant " with an " unbounded See also:passion for scribbling "; and, although giving See also:evidence of learning, ingenuity and See also:imagination, her writings are fatally marred by a deficiency in See also:judgment and self-See also:restraint. She is best known by the Life she wrote of her See also:husband, originally printed by A. See also:Maxwell at See also:London in 1667. She also published Philosophical Fancies (1653); Poems and Fancies (1653); The See also:World's Olio (1655); Nature's Picture See also:drawn by Fancie's See also:Pencil to the Life, which includes an autobiography (1656); Philosophical and See also:Physical Opinions (1655); Orations (1662); Plays (1662); Sociable Letters (1664); Observations upon Experimental See also:Philosophy (1666); Letters and Poems (1676). The Life of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, by Margaret, duchess of Newcastle, has been edited by C.

H. See also:

Firth (1886); it was criticized by See also:Pepys as " the ridiculous See also:history of my Lord Newcastle See also:writ by his wife, which shows her to be a mad, conceited, ridiculous woman, and he an See also:ass to suffer her to write what she writes to him and of him," but on the other See also:hand eulogized by Charles See also:Lamb as a work for which " no See also:casket is See also:rich enough, no See also:case sufficiently durable to honour and keep soft such a See also:jewel.' See also La Duchesse et le Duc de Newcastle, by Emile See also:Montegut (1895). The duchess's Select Poems were edited by See also:Brydges in 1813, and her Autobiography in 1814. The latter, edited by See also:Lower, was published along with her Life of the Duke of Newcastle in 1872. 2. THOMAS PELHAM HOLLES, duke of Newcastle (1693-1768), whose See also:official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century, was the See also:elder son of Thomas, first Lord Pelham, by his second wife See also:Lady Grace Holles, younger sister of John Holles, duke of Newcastle-on-Tyne, who died in 1711, and left the whole of his vast estates to him. In 1712 he also succeeded his father in his peerage and estates, and in 1714, when he came of See also:age, was one of the greatest landowners in the See also:kingdom. He vigorously sustained the Whig party at Queen See also:Anne's death, and had much See also:influence in making the Londoners accept King See also:George. His services were too great to be neglected, and in 1714 he was created earl of Clare, and in 1715 duke of Newcastle-on-Tyne. He also became lord-See also:lieutenant of the counties of See also:Middlesex and See also:Nottingham and a knight of the Garter in 1718, in which year he increased his Whig connexion by marrying Lady Henrietta See also:Godolphin, granddaughter of the great duke of See also:Marlborough. In 1717 he first held See also:political See also:office as lord See also:chamberlain of the See also:household, and in 1724 was chosen by Sir See also:Robert Walpole to be secretary of See also:state in See also:place of Lord See also:Carteret. This office he held continuously for See also:thirty years (1724-1754), and only changed it for the premiership on his brother's death.

His See also:

long See also:tenure of office has been attributed to his great Whig connexions and his See also:wealth, but some praise must be given to his inexhaustible activity and great See also:powers of debate. He was a peculiarly muddle-headed man, and unhappy if he had not more to do than he could possibly manage, but at the same time he was a consummate See also:master of See also:parliamentary See also:tactics, and knew how to manage the Houses of Lords and See also:Commons alike. Lord See also:Hervey (See also:Memoirs) compares him with Walpole in 1735, and says: " We have one See also:minister that does everything with the same seeming ease and tranquillity as if he were doing nothing; we have another that does nothing in the same See also:hurry and agitation as if he did everything." He continued in office on Walpole's fall in 1742, and became more powerful on his younger brother Henry becoming See also:prime minister in 1743. On Henry Pelham's death in March 1754, Newcastle succeeded him as premier; but See also:people who had been accustomed to him as secretary of state would not stand him as premier, and in November 1756 he gave place to the duke of Devonshire. For his long services he was created duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, with remainder to Henry Fiennes Clinton, 9th earl of Lincoln, who had married his niece Catherine Pelham. In July 1757 he again became prime minister—for See also:Pitt, though a great statesman, was a See also:bad party See also:leader—on the understanding, according to See also:Horace Walpole, that " Mr Pitt does everything, the duke gives everything." Under this See also:ministry England became famous abroad, but it gradually See also:fell before the See also:young king's See also:affection for Lord See also:Bute,who, after supplanting Pitt, became prime minister in the See also:room of Newcastle in May 1762. The duke went into strong opposition, and lost his two lord-lieutenancies for opposing the peace of 1763. In 1765 he became lord privy See also:seal for a few months, but his See also:health was fast giving way, and he died in November 1768. The duke was certainly not a great man, but he was industrious and energetic, and to his See also:credit be it said that the statesman who almost monopolized the patronage of office for See also:half a century twice refused a See also:pension, and finally left office £300,000 poorer than he.entered it. See Memoirs of the See also:Administration of the Right Hon. H. Pelham, by W.

See also:

Coxe (1829). 3. HENRY PELHAM FIENNES PELHAM CLINTON, 5th duke of Newcastle (1811-1864), the eldest son of Henry, the 4th duke, was educated at See also:Eton and at See also:Christ See also:Church, See also:Oxford, where he graduated in 1832. He was member of See also:parliament for See also:South See also:Nottinghamshire from 1832 to 1846, when he became member for the See also:Falkirk Burghs, retaining this seat until he became duke of Newcastle in January 1851. As earl of Lincoln he was first See also:commissioner of See also:woods and forests from 1841 to February 1846, when he was appointed See also:chief secretary to the lord-lieutenant of See also:Ireland, but the ministry fell in June of the same year. In 1852 Newcastle became secretary for war and the colonies under the earl of See also:Aberdeen, and when, after the outbreak of the See also:Crimean War; a See also:separate war See also:department was constituted, he was placed in See also:charge of it. As secretary for war he was regarded as being largely responsible for the terrible hardships which befell the British troops in the See also:Crimea in the See also:winter of 1854, and as the result of a See also:vote of censure he left office with his colleagues in January 1855. He was secretary for the colonies from 1859 to 1864, and died on the 18th of October 1864, being succeeded as 6th duke by his eldest son, Henry Pelham Alexander. See J.

End of Article: NEWCASTLE, DUKES OF

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