Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, KG, MC, PC (2 January 1920 – 3 May 2004), known as Lord Andrew Cavendish until 1944 and as Marquess of Hartington from 1944 to 1950, was a British Conservative politician. He was a minister in the government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (who was married to his aunt), but is best known for opening Chatsworth House to the public.

Life

Cavendish was born to Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire and his wife Mary. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. In World War II, he was a major in the Coldstream Guards. He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions on 27 July 1944 when his company was cut off for 36 hours in heavy combat near Strada in Italy.

Family

In 1941 he married the Hon. Deborah Mitford (born 31 March 1920), one of the Mitford sisters. The marriage was not without some bumps. Two of the couple's children died soon after birth, and the Duke's extramarital affairs became public after he took the stand as a witness at a burglary trial and was forced to admit, under oath, that he was on holiday with one of a series of younger women when the crime occurred at his London home. The Duke, however, claimed that much of his marriage's success was due to the Duchess's tolerance and broadmindedness. Deborah, as chatelaine, is largely responsible for the success of Chatsworth as a commercial endeavour.

 He and Deborah have six children:

• Hon. NN Cavendish, b. 14 Nov 1941
• Lady Emma Cavendish, b. 26 Mar 1943, Hadham Common, Barnet
• Peregrine Andrew Morny Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, b. 27 Apr 1944, Churchdale Hall, Bakewell
• Lord Victor Cavendish, b. 22 May 1947
• Lady Mary Cavendish, b. 5 Apr 1953
• Lady Sophia Louise Sydney Cavendish, b. 18 Mar 1957

His older brother William, who would have inherited the dukedom, was killed in combat near the end of the war. With William's death Andrew became heir and received the courtesy title of Marquess of Hartington, which he held from 1944 until 1950.

The 10th Duke died of a heart attack while visiting Eastbourne in November 1950 and Cavendish inherited the title, though he was in Australia at the time. The Duke died while being attended by suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams, who was his doctor when visiting Eastbourne. No proper police investigation was ever conducted into the death but Cavendish later said "it should perhaps be noted that this doctor was not appointed to look after the health of my two younger sisters, who were then in their teens"; Adams had a reputation for grooming older patients in order to extract bequests.

Cavendish inherited the estate but also an inheritance tax bill of £7 million, nearly 80 percent of the value of the estate. In order to meet this, the Duke had to sell off many art objects and antiques, including several Rembrandts, Van Dycks and Raphaels, as well as thousands of acres of land, including some property such as Hardwick Hall.

 

Political career

Cavendish ran unsuccessfully as a National Liberal candidate for Chesterfield in the 1945 general election and as a Conservative in the same seat in 1950. He was Mayor of Buxton from 1952 to 1954. He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Commonwealth Relations from 1960 to 1962, Minister of State at the Commonwealth Relations Office from 1962 to 1963, and for Colonial Affairs from 1963 to 1964. He once said that these appointments by his uncle, Harold Macmillan, the then-prime minister, were "the greatest act of nepotism ever".

He joined the Social Democratic Party shortly after its foundation in 1981, but left the party when David Owen resigned as the party's leader in 1987, describing Owen as "the best of them". He then sat as a crossbencher in his rare appearances in the House of Lords.

Other interests

The duke followed the family tradition of owning racehorses, the most famous of which was Park Top. Park Top was the subject of the duke's first published book, A Romance of The Turf: Park Top which was published in 1976. His autobiography, Accidents of Fortune, was published just before his death in 2004.

The duke had many disputes over the years with the ramblers who used the paths near Chatsworth. Eventually though, in 1991, he signed an agreement with the Peak National Park Authority opening 1,300 acres (5 km²) of his estate to walkers. He said that everyone was "welcome in my back garden".

The duke's real estate holdings were vast. In addition to Chatsworth he also owned Lismore Castle in Ireland and Bolton Abbey in North Yorkshire. He also owned the bookshop Heywood Hill and the gentleman's club Pratt's. He was a major collector of contemporary British art, known especially for his patronage of Lucian Freud. He was one of the founders, and the chief patron of, the Next Century Foundation in which capacity he hosted the private Chatsworth talks between representatives of the governments of the Arab World and Israel. The duke was listed at number 73 in the Sunday Times list of the richest people in Britain for 2004.

In 1996 he was made a Knight of the Garter.

He once said to an interviewer:

"Wonderful things have happened in my life — it's time my son had his turn. When I was young I used to like casinos, fast women and God knows what. Now my idea of Heaven, apart from being at Chatsworth, is to sit in the hall of Brooks's, having tea."

The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire had three surviving children: a son, Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, and two daughters, the Lady Emma Cavendish and the Lady Sophia Topley. Among their grandchildren is the fashion model Stella Tennant. The Duke is buried in the churchyard of the village church in Edensor in the grounds of Chatsworth.

  Bibliography

• writing as The Duke of Devonshire: A Romance of the Turf: Park Top (2000 edition ISBN 0-7195-5482-9)
• writing as Andrew Devonshire: Accidents of Fortune [Autobiography] (2004) ISBN 0-85955-286-1