Lord Frederick Cavendish

For other people with the same name, see Frederick Cavendish (disambiguation).

Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish PC (30 November 1836 – 6 May 1882) was an English Liberal politician and protégé of the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone. Cavendish was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in May 1882 but was killed along with Thomas Henry Burke in what came to be known as the Phoenix Park Murders only hours after his arrival in Dublin, a victim of the Irish National Invincibles organisation.

The Right Honourable Lord Frederick Cavendish
Lord Frederick Cavendish by John D. Miller, published 1883 (after Sir William Blake Richmond, exh. RA 1874)
Chief Secretary for Ireland
In office 6 May 1882
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	William Edward Forster
Succeeded by	George Trevelyan
Personal details
Born	30 November 1836 (1836-11-30) Compton Place, Eastbourne, Sussex, England
Died	6 May 1882(1882-05-06) (aged 45) Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Hon. Lucy Lyttelton ​ (m. 1864)​
Parents	William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire Lady Blanche Howard
Relatives	George Lyttelton (father-in-law)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Cavendish impaling Lyttelton, funeral hatchment of Lucy Lyttelton, wife of Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish, St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales

Statue in Barrow-in-Furness

Background and education

Born at Compton Place, Eastbourne, Sussex, Cavendish was the second son of the 7th Duke of Devonshire by his wife, Lady Blanche Howard, fourth daughter of the 6th Earl of Carlisle, and the brother of the Marquess of Hartington, later 8th Duke of Devonshire, who had also been Chief Secretary for Ireland. Cavendish, after being educated at home, matriculated in 1855 at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1858, and then served as a cornet with the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry cavalry.

Political career

From 1859 to 1864, Cavendish was private secretary to Lord Granville. He travelled in the United States during 1859 and 1860, and in Spain in 1860. He was elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal for the Northern Division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 15 July 1865, and retained that office until his death. After serving as private secretary to the prime minister, William Ewart Gladstone, from July 1872 to August 1873 he became a junior Lord of the Treasury, and held office until the resignation of the ministry. He was Financial Secretary to the Treasury from April 1880 to May 1882, when soon after the resignation of William Edward Forster, Chief Secretary for Ireland, he was appointed to succeed him.

Death

In company with the 5th Earl Spencer, the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he proceeded to Dublin, and took the oath as Chief Secretary at Dublin Castle, on 6 May 1882; but on the afternoon of the same day, while walking in the Phoenix Park in company with Thomas Henry Burke, the Permanent Under-Secretary, he was assassinated by members of the militant Irish nationalist splinter group known as the Irish National Invincibles. Using scalpels and surgical blades, the participants stabbed Lord Frederick and Burke multiple times from behind in an incident that came to be known as the Phoenix Park killings.

Burial

His remains were returned to England and buried in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Edensor, near Chatsworth, on 11 May, where 300 members of the House of Commons and 30,000 other persons followed to the side of the grave.

Trial

The trial of the murderers in 1883 (see James Carey) made it evident that the death of Cavendish was not premeditated, and that he was not recognised by the assassins; the plot was against Burke, and Cavendish was murdered because he happened to be in the company of Burke.

Family

Cavendish married, on 7 June 1864, Lucy Caroline Lyttelton, second daughter of the 4th Baron Lyttelton, granddaughter of Sir Stephen Glynne and niece of William Ewart Gladstone's wife Catherine. She was a maid of honour to the Queen.

A statue of Cavendish can be found in the plaza behind the town hall in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria (formerly and historically in Lancashire), where his father invested heavily in local industries. A window in memory of Cavendish was placed in St Margaret's Church, Westminster, at the cost of the members of the House of Commons. His imposing white Carrara marble tomb can be seen in Cartmel Priory, Cumbria. Cavendish was a council member of Yorkshire College, Leeds, which after his death established the Cavendish Chair of Physics. There is also a memorial fountain to him at Bolton Abbey.

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  The funeral of Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish in St Peter's Churchyard, Edensor
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  St Peter's Church, Edensor - Memorial to Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish
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  Window erected in his memory in St Peter's Church, Edensor made by Hardman & Co. in 1882
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  The memorial to Cavendish at Bolton Abbey
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  Memorial to Cavendish at Bolton Abbey erected by tenants of the Estate
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  Carrara marble memorial in Cartmel Priory

Ancestry

Ancestors of Lord Frederick Cavendish

8. George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington 4. William Cavendish 9. Elizabeth Compton 2. William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire 10. Cornelius O'Callaghan, 1st Baron Lismore 5. Louisa O'Callaghan 11. Frances Ponsonby 1. Frederick Cavendish 12. Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle 6. George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle 13. Margaret Caroline Leveson-Gower 3. Blanche Georgiana Howard 14. William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire 7. Georgiana Cavendish 15. Georgiana Spencer

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Cavendish, Frederick Charles". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Frederick Cavendish
• Portraits of Lord Frederick Cavendish at the National Portrait Gallery, London