William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, as third Duke of Portland. This nobleman, who was born in 1738, married, in 1766, the Lady Dorothy Cavendish, only daughter of William, fourth Duke of Devonshire, and by her had issue four sons and two daughters. These were—William Henry, Marquis of Tichfield (his successor); General Lord William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, Governor-General of India, who married a daughter of the Earl of Gosford; Lady Charlotte Bentinck, married to Charles Greville, Esq.; Lady Mary Bentinck; Lord William Charles Augustus Cavendish Bentinck, who married, first, Miss G. A. F. Seymour, and, secondly, Anne, daughter of the Marquis Wellesley, and divorced wife of Sir William Addy; and Major-General Lord Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, who married the Lady Mary Lowther, daughter of William, first Earl of Lonsdale of the second creation, and by her, with other issue, became father of the present Right Hon. George Augustus Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, M.P. for Whitehaven, and a member of the Administration. The noble Duke died in 1809, and was succeeded by his eldest son—
William Henry, fourth Duke of Portland, who was born in 1768, married in 1795 Henrietta, eldest daughter and co-heiress of General John Scott, of Balconnie, county Fife, by whom he received a large accession of property. His grace, by royal sign manual, assumed the additional surname and arms of Scott, thus altering the family name to Scott-Bentinck. By this marriage his grace had issue four sons and four daughters. These were—William Henry Cavendish Scott-Bentinck, Marquis of Tichfield, who died unmarried during his father’s lifetime; the Lady Henrietta; William John, Marquis of Tichfield, who succeeded to the dukedom and estates; Major Lord William George Frederick Cavendish Scott-Bentinck (known as Lord George Bentinck), the eminent statesman and patriot, who died in 1848, to whom a fine Gothic memorial, somewhat after the manner of the “Martyrs’ Memorial,” has been erected by public subscription at Mansfield, from the design of Mr. T. C. Hine. It bears the following inscription:—
“To the memory of Lord George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, second surviving son of William Henry Cavendish-Scott, fourth Duke of Portland. He died the 21st day of September, An. Dom. MDCCCXLVIII., in the forty-seventh year of his age. His ardent patriotism and uncompromising honesty were only equalled by the persevering zeal and extraordinary talents which called forth the grateful homage of those who, in erecting this memorial, pay a heartfelt tribute to exertions which prematurely brought to the grave one who might long have lived the pride of this his native county.”
Lord Henry William Cavendish Scott-Bentinck; the Lady Charlotte, married to John Evelyn Denison, M.P.; the Lady Lucy, married to Lord Howard de Walden; and the Lady Mary. His grace, who was a fellow of the Royal Society, a trustee of the British Museum, and a man of high scientific attainments, died in 1854, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, the present noble head of this illustrious house.
William John Cavendish Scott-Bentinck, the present peer, fifth Duke of Portland, Marquis of Tichfield, Earl of Portland, Viscount Woodstock, Baron of Cirencester, and a co-heir to the barony of Ogle, was born on the 17th of September, 1800, and represented the borough of Lynn in Parliament. In 1854 he succeeded his father in the titles and estates. The Duke, who is unmarried, is a trustee of the British Museum, and a deputy-lieutenant of the county of Nottingham. His grace, who is a man of the most refined taste in all matters of Art, an accomplished scholar, and of high attainments, is patron of thirteen livings—viz. Hendon, in Middlesex; Hucknall-Torkard, Sutton-cum-Lound, Cotham, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Gotham, and Sibthorpe, in Nottinghamshire; Bredon, in Worcestershire; Elsworth, in Cambridgeshire; Whitwell, Elmton, and Bolsover, in Derbyshire; and Bothal, in Northumberland.
The arms of the Duke of Portland are—quarterly, 1st and 4th grand quarters, quarterly 1 and 4, azure, a cross moline, argent (for Bentinck) 2 and 3, sable, three stags’ heads caboshed, argent, a crescent for difference (for Cavendish), 2nd and 3rd grand quarters, or, on a bend, azure, a mullet of six points between two crescents, or, within a bordure engrailed, gules (for Scott). Crests—1st, out of a marquis’s coronet, proper, two arms counter embowed, vested, gules, on the hands gloves, or, each holding an ostrich feather, or (for Bentinck); 2nd, a snake nowed, proper (for Cavendish). Supporters—two lions, double queued, the dexter one or, the sinister one sable. Motto—“Craignez honte.”
Arms of the Duke of Portland.
The Duke of Portland’s seats are—Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire; Fullarton House, Troon, Ayrshire; Langwell, Goldspie, Caithness; Bothal Castle, Northumberland; Harcourt House, Cavendish Square; and Hyde Park Gardens.
The heir-presumptive to the titles and estates of the Duke of Portland is his grace’s cousin, Major-general Arthur Cavendish Bentinck, youngest son of the late Lord William Charles Augustus Cavendish Bentinck, brother of the fourth duke. He was born in 1819, and married, first, in 1857, a daughter of Sir Vincent Whitshed, Bart., who died in 1858 (by whom he has a son, William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish Bentinck); and, secondly, in 1862, Augusta Mary Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. and Very Rev. Henry Montague Browne, Dean of Lismore, by whom he has also issue.