George Cavendish-Bentinck

George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck PC JP (9 July 1821 – 9 April 1891), known as George Bentinck and scored in cricket as GAFC Bentinck, was a British barrister, Conservative politician, and cricketer. A member of parliament from 1859 to 1891, he served under Benjamin Disraeli as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1874 to 1875 and as Judge Advocate General from 1875 to 1880.[1]

The Right Honourable George Cavendish-Bentinck PC JP
"Little Ben" as caricatured by James Tissot in Vanity Fair, December 1871
Member of Parliament for Whitehaven
In office 1865–1891
Preceded by	George Lyall
Succeeded by	Sir James Bain
Judge Advocate General
In office 1875–1880
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	Benjamin Disraeli
Preceded by	Stephen Cave
Succeeded by	George Osborne Morgan
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade
In office 1874–1875
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	Benjamin Disraeli
Preceded by	Viscount Peel
Succeeded by	Edward Stanhope
Member of Parliament for Taunton
In office 1859 – 1865 (with Arthur Mills)
Preceded by	Baron Taunton Arthur Mills
Succeeded by	Alexander Charles Barclay The Marquess of Tweeddale
Personal details
Born	George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck 9 July 1821 Westminster, Middlesex
Died	9 April 1891 (aged 69) Brownsea Island, Dorset
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Prudentia Penelope Leslie ​ ​ (m. 1850; his death 1891)​
Relations	The 3rd Duke of Portland (grandfather) The 5th Duke of Portland (cousin)
Children	4, including William George and Mary Venetia
Parents	Lord Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck Lady Mary Lowther
Education	Westminster School
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

In cricket, he batted for Marylebone Cricket Club in nine games between 1840 and 1846, as well as appearing once for the Cambridge University cricket team and again for a first-class Invitational XI match.

Early life

Cavendish-Bentinck was born in Westminster, Middlesex, in 1821, the only son of Major-General Lord Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck (1781–1828), fourth son of Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738–1809).[2][3][4] His mother was Mary Lowther (d. 1863), a daughter of William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1757–1844),[5] a Tory politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Appleby, Carlisle, Cumberland, and Rutland.[6]

He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge.[7] While at Westminster School,[8] he played for the school's First XI cricket team and faced the MCC for the first time in June 1837, scoring 14 and 13, although his team was defeated by 49 runs,[9] and for a second time in July 1839 when he opened the innings with scores of two and six.[10]

Career

In 1840, Cavendish-Bentinck was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, but retired in 1841 after only a year. He joined the MCC to play against Oxford University on 11 June 1840 – his debut first-class match. Oxford, despite playing at home, fell to a heavy defeat as the MCC won by seven wickets. Cavendish-Bentinck made 11.[11] His one appearance for Cambridge came in a match against the MCC, on 1 July 1841. Apart from various appearances for the MCC against school sides, Cavendish-Bentinck would play eight other first-class games for the MCC, scoring fifty-three runs in total, including a best of 29 not out.[12] Add to this one match between two invitational teams – a Slow Bowlers XI featuring Bentinck versus a Fast Bowlers XI – and Cavendish-Bentinck played eleven games in total, scoring 66 runs at a low batting average of 5.50.[13][14]

In 1846, he was called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn and became an equity draftsman and conveyancer.

Political career

Cavendish-Bentinck stood unsuccessfully for the borough of Taunton at the general election April 1859,[15] but was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough at a by-election in August that year.[15] He held the seat until the 1865 general election, when he was returned unopposed for Whitehaven.[16] He held that seat until his death, aged 69, in 1891.[17] He served in the second Conservative administration of Benjamin Disraeli as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1874 to 1875 and as Judge Advocate General from 1875 to 1880.[18] In 1875, he was sworn of the Privy Council.[1][19]

Apart from his legal and political career, Cavendish-Bentinck was a Trustee of the British Museum from 1875 until his death and a Justice of the Peace for Cumberland and Dorset.[20] In 1885, he was one of the staunchest adversaries of William Thomas Stead during the Eliza Armstrong case.[21][22]

Personal life

Painting of Mrs. George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck and her children by George Frederic Watts

Grave of Cavendish-Bentinck on Brownsea Island

On 14 August 1850, Cavendish-Bentinck married Prudentia Penelope Leslie (d. 1896), the daughter of Col. Charles Powell Leslie II.[1][23] Together, they had two sons and two daughters:[24]

• Christina Anne Jessica Cavendish-Bentinck (d. 1912),[25] who married Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet (1826–1913), and was the mother of Sir Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet (1879–1919).[26]
• William George Cavendish-Bentinck (1854–1909), who married Elizabeth Livingston (1855–1943), granddaughter of Maturin Livingston (1769–1847), in 1880.[27]
• William George Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck (1856–1948), who was the father of the 8th Duke of Portland, and the 9th Duke of Portland.
• Mary Venetia Cavendish-Bentinck (1861–1948), who married John Arthur James (1853-1917) and was godmother to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.[28]

In 1889, Cavendish-Bentinck was named by rentboy John Saul in his police statement as a client of the infamous male brothel at the heart of the Cleveland Street Scandal.[29]

Cavendish-Bentinck purchased Branksea Castle on Brownsea Island in 1873 and introduced Jersey cows and developed agriculture on the island.[30] He died there in April 1891, aged 69.[31] His wife survived him by five years and died in June 1896.

References

Notes

1. "Papers of George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck (1821-1891), politician". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
2. "George Augustus Frederick Cavendish Bentinck (Biographical details)". britishmuseum.org. British Museum. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
3. Freer, A.C.I.B., Alan G. "THE DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR". www.william1.co.uk. Alan Freer. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
4. "Portland, Duke of (GB, 1716 - 1990)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
5. "CAVENDISH BENTINCK, Lord William Frederick (1781-1828), of 11 St. James's Square, Mdx. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
6. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1895). Armorial Families: A Complete Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, and a Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, and Being the First Attempt to Show which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority. Jack. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
7. "Cavendish-Bentinck, George (BNTK839GA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
8. "Cricket Teams George Bentinck Played For". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
9. "Westminster School v Marylebone Cricket Club – Other matches in England 1837". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
10. "Westminster School v Marylebone Cricket Club – Other matches in England 1839". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
11. "Oxford University v Marylebone Cricket Club – University Match 1840". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
12. "Marylebone Cricket Club v Cambridge University – University Match 1841". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
13. "Player Profile: George Bentinck". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
14. "Player Profile: George Bentinck". ESPN CricInfo. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
15. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 300. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
16. Craig, Election results 1832–1885, page 330
17. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 208. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
18. Disraeli, Benjamin; Gunn, John Alexander Wilson; Wiebe, Melvin George (1997). Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1852-1856. University of Toronto Press. p. 229. ISBN 9780802041371. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
19. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates | Third Series: Commencing with the Accession of William IV. London: Wyman. 1876. p. 51. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
20. Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886
21. Raymond L. Schults, Crusader in Babylon: W. T. Stead and the Pall Mall Gazette, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1972. ISBN 0-8032-0760-3, p. 138-145.
22. "ARRIVED FROM EUROPE". The New York Times. 22 August 1884. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
23. Dod's Parliamentary Companion | Fifty-Seventh Year. London: Dod's Parliamentary Companion Limited. 1889. p. 202. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
24. Foster, Joseph (1885). Men-at-the-bar: A Biographical Hand-list of the Members of the Various Inns of Court, Including Her Majesty's Judges, Etc. Reeves and Turner. p. 34. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
25. "Christina Anne Jessica (née Cavendish-Bentinck), Lady Sykes (1853?-1912), Wife of Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Bt; daughter of George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck". npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
26. Lundy, Darryl. "FAQ". The Peerage.
27. "MRS. CAVENDISH-BENTINCK ILL.; Chimes in Parliament House Stopped to Avoid Disturbing Her". The New York Times. 5 July 1899. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
28. Shawcross, William (2009). Queen Elizabeth: The Queen Mother : the Official Biography. Pan Macmillan. p. 120.
29. Hyde, H. Montgomery The Cleveland Street Scandal, W.H. Allen, London 1976, p236,n1
30. Fahy, Everett; Watson, Francis (1973). The Wrightsman Collection: Paintings, drawings, sculpture. V. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 220. ISBN 9780870990120. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
31. The London Gazette. T. Neuman. 7 July 1891. p. 3624. Retrieved 5 June 2017.

Sources

• George Bentinck at CricketArchive (subscription required)
• George Bentinck at ESPNcricinfo
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Cavendish-Bentinck

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George Cavendish-Bentinck
• Picture: Mrs George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck and her Children (3 children shown; exhibited 1860), George Frederic Watts (1817–1904) Tate Gallery, London, accessed 16 September 2008
• George Augustus Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck Statesmen, No. 101