Duke of Devonshire
William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, KG, PC (21 May 1790 – 18 January 1858), was known as the "Bachelor Duke".
Born in Paris, he became Duke of Devonshire at the age of 21 on the death of his father in 1811. His mother, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, had died in 1806. Along with the title he inherited eight stately homes and 200,000 acres (809 km˛ or 80,900 ha) of land. He went on to improve his houses and gardens (including the rebuilding of the village of Edensor) and travelled extensively.
Owning and growing the latest and fanciest tropical orchid was once the height of fashion. In England during the reign of Queen Victorian the exotic blooms were a must have status symbol among the wealthy upper classes. It is the Duke of Cavendish who is credited with beginning the Victorian's fascination with orchids.
A gentle, clever man, the Duke was afflicted with worsening deafness from a young age. Increasingly excluded from sociable company he discovered a world of meaning in orchids. He was one of the first to send envoys to the tropics to retrieve new orchids with which to stock his large glasshouses. His infatuation with orchids was the opening act to a craze which swept the world, and which is still with us today. |
