He was succeeded by his son, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, third
Duke, K.G., who had been M.P. for Weobley. This Duke became Prime
Minister of England in 1783, when a Coalition Government was in office.
Again in 1807 he was Premier, and was at the head of the Ministry up to
shortly before his death in 1809. Other positions held by him were
Viceroy of Ireland, Secretary of State for the Home Department, 1794;
Lord President of the Council, 1801; Chancellor of Oxford University;
High Steward of Bristol and Lord Lieutenant of Notts.; he assumed the
additional name of Cavendish by royal licence in 1801. He received his
early education at Eton, but in after life declared that he got nothing
out of Eton except a sound flogging. It was not claimed for the Duke
that he was a man of brilliant attainments, but he was the soul of
honour, and for this reputation and for his conciliatory disposition,
was chosen to head the Government, which relied for its precarious
existence on the reconciliation of the contending parties among the
Whigs and Tories. He married the only daughter of the Duke of Devonshire
and the male direct line continued in the succession of his eldest son.

The fourth Duke was William Henry Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, who married
Henrietta, eldest daughter of Major-General John Scott, a descendant of
Balliol and Bruce, the heroes of Scottish history. There were four sons
and six daughters of the marriage, the succession being continued by the
second son. The fourth was known as the "Farmer Duke," and with his love
of country presuits he lived to the ripe age of eighty-five, dying in
1854.

The most eccentric character in this ducal line was the fifth holder of
the title, William John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, born in 1800. He was
M.P. for Lynn 1824-1826, and died in December, 1879. Of his