William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (6 December 1592-25 December 1676) was an English nobleman who served as a Cavalier commander during the English Civil War.
Biography[]
William Cavendish was born in Handsworth, Yorkshire, England on 6 December 1592, and he was made a Knight of the Bath in 1610 and became MP for East Retford in 1614. He served as a courtier of King James I of England and befriended the future King Charles I of England and his wife Henrietta Maria of France, hosting lavish banquets in their honor. He was created Marquess of Newcastle upon Tyne and entrusted with the education of the future King Charles II of England, and - a staunch royalist - he helped to fund the King's campaigns against the Scots. During the English Civil War, he was the main Cavalier commandere in northern England, and, after his defeat at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, he went into self-imposed exile. He returned after the restoration of the House of Stuart in 1660 and was made Duke of Newcastle, and he died in 1676.