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SPENCER COMPTON CAVENDISH

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 132 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SPENCER See also:COMPTON See also:CAVENDISH , 8th See also:duke (1833-1908), See also:born on the 23rd of See also:July 1833, was the son of the 7th duke (then See also:earl of See also:Burlington) and his wife See also:Lady See also:Blanche See also:Howard (See also:sister of the earl of See also:Carlisle). In 1854 See also:Lord Cavendish, as he then was, took his degree at Trinity See also:College, See also:Cambridge; in 1856 he was attached to the See also:special See also:mission to See also:Russia for the new See also:tsar's See also:accession; and in 1857 he was returned to See also:parliament as Liberal member for See also:North See also:Lancashire. At the opening of the new parliament of 1859 the See also:marquis of Hartington (as he had now become) moved the See also:amendment to the address which overthrew the See also:government of Lord See also:Derby. In 1863 he became first a lord of the See also:admiralty, and then under-secretary for See also:war, and on the formation of the See also:Russell-See also:Gladstone See also:administration at the See also:death of Lord See also:Palmerston he entered it as war secretary. He retired with his colleagues in July 1866; but upon Mr Gladstone's return to See also:power in 1868 he became postmaster-See also:general, an See also:office which he exchanged in 1871 for that of secretary for See also:Ireland. When Mr Gladstone, after his defeat and resignation in 1894, temporarily withdrew from the leadership of the Liberal party in See also:January 1875, Lord Hartington was chosen Liberal See also:leader in the See also:House of See also:Commons, Lord See also:Granville being leader in the Lords. Mr W. E. See also:Forster, who had taken a much more prominent See also:part in public See also:life, was the only other possible nominee, but he declined to stand. Lord Hartington's See also:rank no doubt told in his favour, and Mr Forster's See also:education See also:bill had offended the See also:Nonconformist members, who would probably have withheld their support. Lord Hartington's prudent management in difficult circumstances laid his followers under See also:great obligations, since not only was the opposite party in the ascendant, but his own former See also:chief was indulging in the freedom of See also:independence. After the See also:complete defeat of the Conservatives in the general See also:election of 188o, a large See also:pro-portion of the party would have rejoiced if Lord Hartington could have taken the Premiership instead of Mr Gladstone, and the See also:queen, ,in strict conformity with constitutional usage (though Gladstone himself thought Lord Granville should have had the preference), sent for him as leader of the Opposition.

Mr Gladstone, however, was clearly See also:

master of the situation: no See also:cabinet could be formed without him, nor could he reasonably be expected to accept a subordinate See also:post. Lord Hartington, there-fore, gracefully abdicated the leadership, and became secretary of See also:state for See also:India, from which office, in See also:December 1882, he passed to the war office. His administration was memorable for the expeditions of General See also:Gordon and Lord See also:Wolseley to See also:Khartum, and a considerable number of the Conservative party See also:long held him chiefly responsible for the "betrayal of Gordon." His lethargic manner, apart from his position as war See also:minister, helped to See also:associate him in their minds with a disaster which emphasized the fact that the'government acted " too See also:late "; but Gladstone and Lord Granville were no less responsible than he. In See also:June 1885 he resigned along with his colleagues, and in December was elected for the Rossendale See also:Division of Lancashire, created by the new reform bill. Immediately afterwards the great See also:political opportunity of Lord Hartington's life came to him in Mr Gladstone's See also:conversion to See also:home See also:rule for Ireland. Lord Hartington's refusal to follow his leader in this course inevitably made him the chief of the new Liberal Unionist party, composed of a large and influential See also:section of the old Liberals. In this capacity he moved the first See also:resolution at the famous public See also:meeting at the See also:opera house, and also, in the House of Commons, moved the rejection of Mr Gladstone's Bill on the second See also:reading. During the memorable electoral contest which followed, no election excited more See also:interest than Lord Hartington's for the Rossendale division, where he was returned by a See also:majority of nearly 1500 votes. In the new parliament he held a position much resembling that which See also:Sir See also:Robert See also:Peel had occupied after his fall from power, the leader of a small, compact party, the See also:standing and ability of whose members were out of all proportion to their See also:numbers, generally esteemed and trusted beyond any other See also:man in the See also:country, yet in his own See also:opinion forbidden to think of office. Lord See also:Salisbury's offers to serve under him as See also:prime minister (both after the general election, and again when Lord See also:Randolph See also:Churchill resigned) were declined, and Lord Hartington continued to See also:discharge the delicate duties of the leader of a See also:middle party with no less See also:judgment than he had shown when leading the Liberals during the See also:interregnum of 1875-1880. It was not until 1895, when the See also:differences between Conservatives and Liberal Unionists had become almost obliterated by changed circumstances, and the See also:habit of acting together, that the duke of See also:Devonshire, as he had become by the death of his See also:father in 189r, consented to enter Lord Salisbury's third See also:ministry as See also:president of the See also:council. The duke thus wasthe nominal representative of education in the cabinet at a See also:time when educational questions were rapidly becoming of great importance; and his own technical knowledge of this difficult and intricate question being admittedly superficial, a See also:good See also:deal of See also:criticism from time to time resulted.

He had however by this time an established position in public life, and a reputation for See also:

weight of See also:character, which procured for him universal respect and confidence, and exempted him from See also:bitter attack, even from his most determined political opponents. See also:Wealth and rank combined with character to See also:place him in a measure above party; and his See also:succession to his father as See also:chancellor of the university of Cambridge in 1892 indicated his See also:eminence in the life of the country. In the same See also:year he had married the widow of the 7th duke of See also:Manchester. Ile continued to hold the office of lord president of the council till the 3rd of See also:October 1903, when he resigned on See also:account of differences with Mr See also:Balfour (q.v.) over the latter's attitude towards See also:free See also:trade. As Mr See also:Chamberlain had retired from the cabinet, and the duke had not thought it necessary to join Lord See also:George See also:Hamilton and Mr See also:Ritchie in resigning a fortnight earlier, the defection was unanticipated and was sharply criticized by Mr Balfour, who, in the rearrangement of his ministry, had only just appointed the duke's See also:nephew and See also:heir, Mr See also:Victor Cavendish, to be secretary to the See also:treasury. But the duke had come to the conclusion that while he himself was substantially a free-trader,' Mr Balfour did not mean the same thing by the See also:term. He necessarily became the leader of the Free Trade Unionists who were neither Balfourites nor Chamberlainites, and his weight was thrown into the See also:scale against any association of Unionism with the constructive policy of See also:tariff reform, which he identified with sheer See also:Protection. A struggle at once began within the Liberal Unionist organization between those who followed the duke and those who followed Mr Chamberlain (q.v.) ; but the latter were in the majority and a reorganization in the Liberal Unionist Association took place, the Unionist free-traders seceding and becoming a See also:separate See also:body. The duke then became president of the new organizations, the Unionist Free See also:Food See also:League and the Unionist Free Trade See also:Club. In the subsequent developments the duke played a dignified but somewhat silent part, and the Unionist rout in 1906 was not unaffected by his open hostility to any taint of See also:compromise with the tariff reform See also:movement. But in the autumn of 1907 his See also:health gave way, and See also:grave symptoms of cardiac weakness necessitated his abstaining from public effort and spending the See also:winter abroad. He died, rather suddenly, at See also:Cannes on the 24th of See also:March 1908.

The See also:

head of an old and powerful See also:family, a wealthy territorial See also:magnate, and an Englishman with thoroughly See also:national tastes for See also:sport, his weighty and disinterested character made him a statesman of the first rank in his time, in spite of the See also:absence of showy or brilliant qualities. He had no self-seeking ambitions, and on three occasions preferred not to become prime minister. Though his speeches were See also:direct and forcible, he was not an orator, nor " See also:clever "; and he lacked all subtlety of See also:intellect; but he was conspicuous for solidity of mind and straightforwardness of See also:action, and for conscientious application as an See also:administrator, whether in his public or private life. The fact that he once yawned in the middle of a speech of his own was commonly quoted as characteristic; but he combined a great fund of See also:common sense and knowledge of the See also:average opinion with a patriotic sense of See also:duty towards the state. Throughout his career he remained an old-fashioned Liberal, or rather Whig, of a type which in his later years was becoming gradually more and more rare. There was no issue of his See also:marriage, and he was succeeded as 9th duke by his nephew VICTOR See also:CHRISTIAN CAVENDISH (b. 1868), who had been Liberal Unionist member for See also:West See also:Derbyshire since 1891, and was treasurer of the See also:household (1900 to 1903) and ' His own words to Mr Balfour at the time were: " I believe that our See also:present See also:system of free imports is on the whole the most advantageous to the country, though I do not contend that the principles on which it rests possess any such authority or sanctity as to forbid any departure from it, for sufficient reasons." See also:financial• secretary to the treasury (19(33 to 1905); in 1892 he married a daughter of the See also:marquess of See also:Lansdowne, by whom he had two sons. (H.

End of Article: SPENCER COMPTON CAVENDISH

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