Since the middle of the sixteenth century, the Cavendish family has moved in and out of the pages of history, sometimes making its mark with scandal, sometimes with politics, sometimes with learning, and always with style. This study day introduces you to three of the most intriguing members of the family: Bess of Hardwick, the four-times-married founder of the dynasty; the 1^st Duke of Devonshire, labelled “the most dissolute man in London”; and the Bachelor Duke, amiable custodian of the dukedom in the early nineteenth century. Each of these made an important contribution to the development of the house itself and we shall look at the story of the building alongside the story of its builders.

Programme

Registration and Coffee 10.00am

Session 1:  10.30am – 11.30am: 

Bess of Hardwick: 

Bess of Hardwick, third wife of Sir William Cavendish, is one of the most fascinating women of the sixteenth century. Together, she and Sir William were the founders of the Cavendish fortunes and the creators of a fine building at Chatsworth. Although that house has gone, Bess would go on to build Hardwick Hall, also in Derbyshire, which survives as a great example of Elizabethan creativity, magnificence and pride. This session outlines Bess’s remarkable life and then explores her two houses.

Session 2:  11.50am – 12.50pm:

‘The most dissolute man in London’ The 1^st Duke of Devonshire and the Building of Chatsworth:

William Cavendish, 4^th Earl and 1^st Duke of Devonshire, has gone down to history as both the saviour of English liberties and ‘the most dissolute man in London’. In addition, he found time to rebuild Chatsworth, transforming it into ‘a Palace for a Prince’. So this will be a lecture about depravity, politics and fine architecture, as we bring the story into the late seventeenth century.

Session 3: 2.00pm -3.00pm:

The Bachelor Duke and the Modern Age:

We end with yet another William Cavendish, the 6^th Duke, who successfully brought the family and its properties into the modern age of the nineteenth century. An amiable man, he may not have had Bess’s ruthless streak or the 1^st Duke’s role in politics, but his love of both Chatsworth and Hardwick secured their survival. At Hardwick, his enthusiasm for history preserved the house’s rich sense of an ancient past, and at Chatsworth he modernised, so that the Victorian gentleman might live comfortably and well.