Dates

• Existence: 1808 - 1891

Biography

William Cavendish (1808-91), 7th Duke of Devonshire, landowner and industrialist, was born on 27 April 1808, in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, and took his BA and MA in 1829, and in June 1829 he was returned as MP for Cambridge University. He was the first chancellor of the University of London, from 1836 to 1856, and an important influence on its early development. He was chancellor of Cambridge University from 1862 until his death; he was chairman of the royal commission on scientific instruction and the advancement of science, which sat from 1871 to 1874; and as an earnest of his commitment to the cause, he provided for the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge in 1874. He was a considerable benefactor of Owens College, Manchester, and of the Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds; when these colleges became part of the new federal Victoria University in 1880 he was its first chancellor. He died at Holker Hall on 21 December 1891 and was buried at Edensor, close to Chatsworth, on 26 December.

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