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Cavendish (WILLIAM Duke of Newcastle born)

WILLIAM, Duke of Newcastle; born in 1592. Son of Sir Charles Cavendish, he was made Earl of Newcastle by Charles I. On the approach of hostilities between the crown and Parliament he embraced the royal cause, and was invested with a commission constituting him general of all his majesty's forces raised N. of the Trent, with very ample powers. Through great exertions and the expenditure of large sums from his private fortune he levied a considerable army, with which, for some time, he maintained the King's cause in the N. When the royal cause became hopeless he retired to Holland.

He returned after an absence of 18 years, and was rewarded for his services and sufferings with the dignity of duke. He was the author of several mediocre poems and plays, and a treatise on horsemanship. He died in 1676.