Charles Cavendish-Bentinck (priest)

Charles William Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck (8 November 1817 – 17 August 1865) was a great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. His significance lies in his being a royal ancestor, and in his own connections by birth to three powerful British ducal families.

Family

He was born the elder son of Lieutenant Colonel Lord Charles Bentinck^[1] and Anne Wellesley, formerly Lady Abdy^[2].

His paternal grandparents were William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Dorothy Cavendish.

His maternal grandparents were Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley and his wife Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Roland, an actress at the Palais Royal for many years. Lord Wellesley, a former Governor-General of India was an older brother of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, another Prime Minister.^[3]

His paternal grandmother Dorothy Cavendish was a daughter of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (another Prime Minister) and Lady Charlotte Boyle.

Thus between his own paternal and maternal connections, he was related to three dukes (the highest-ranking British peers) and several other aristocratic families. However, as a younger scion, at his birth he had little expectation of succeeding to the title, with his father's eldest brother having fathered several sons. He thus became a clergyman and had two unexceptional marriages, the second into minor landed gentry.

Marriages and Children

He married, firstly, Sinetta Lambourne, daughter of James Lambourne, on 26 September 1839. Sinetta died childless on 19 February 1850.

He married, secondly, (Caroline) Louisa Burnaby, daughter of Edwyn Burnaby, High Sheriff of Leicestershire and Anne Caroline Salisbury, on 13 December 1859. They had three children:

• (Nina) Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck (1862–1938). Married Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. They were parents to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900–2002) and thus maternal grandparents to Queen Elizabeth II.
• Ann Violet Cavendish-Bentinck (1864–1932).
• Hyacinth Cavendish-Bentinck (1864–1916). Married Augustus Edward Jessop.

Heir to the Dukedom of Portland

Cavendish-Bentinck died on 17 August 1865 at age 47, thus missing out by more than a decade on the chance to succeed his first cousin as Duke of Portland.

His paternal uncle William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland had died on 27 March 1854. Two of his sons had predeceased the Duke, including politician Lord George Bentinck who died suddenly, still unmarried, on 21 September 1848.

His first cousin William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland remained unwed. His presumptive heir was his younger brother Lord Henry William Cavendish-Bentinck. Charles was the second-in-line heir at this point.

However both cousins outlived him. Lord Henry William died on 31 December 1870 and the 5th Duke followed on 6 December 1879. The heir was William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland, son of Lt.-Gen. Arthur Cavendish-Bentinck who was the younger brother of the Reverend.

Thus Charles's three daughters missed out on a chance to rise socially, although one daughter made a brilliant marriage despite her father's early death.

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]

For further reading

• Usenet group "alt.talk.royalty". http://groups.google.co.in/groups/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=alt.talk.royalty+Charles+Cavendish-Bentinck+Wellesley&qt_s=Search+Groups. Retrieved 2007-03-02.  Usenet discussions over 10 years
• "Wellesley family genealogy". http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/ww/wellesley2.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-02.  A somewhat incomplete genealogy of the Wesley/Wellesley family that shows the relationship between Anne Wellesley, and her father Lord Wellesley and her uncle the Duke of Wellington.

Persondata
Name	Cavendish-Bentinck, Charles William Frederick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	8 November 1817
Place of birth
Date of death	17 August 1865
Place of death