William Cavendish 1590-1628

William CAVENDISH, 2nd Earl of Devonshire 1590-1628

Armorial stamp of William Cavendish (British Armorial Bindings)

Biographical Note

Second son of Sir William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, Derbyshire. Matriculated at Clare College, Cambridge 1567, but did not graduate; admitted at Gray's Inn, 1572. MP for Liverpool in 1586 and Newport in 1588, sheriff of Derbyshire 1595-6; created Baron Cavendish in 1605, and Earl of Devonshire in 1618. He was extensively involved in overseas business ventures, and successful in consolidating his finances and estates.

Books

Archival evidence of book-buying and binding, and surviving books (now at Chatsworth), show that he developed an extensive library at Hardwick Hall, partly with the help of his tutor Thomas Hobbes. A catalogue of the late 1620s, made by Hobbes, lists ca.1400 books, probably then at Hardwick.

Sources

British Armorial Bindings.
Lee, Sidney, and Victor Stater. "Cavendish, William, second earl of Devonshire (1590–1628), nobleman." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Peck, L. Consuming splendor, 2005, 125-6.
Purcell, M. & N. Thwaite, Libraries at Hardwick, 1597-1957 in D. Adshead & D. Taylor (eds), Hardwick Hall, 2016, 177-91.