Newcastle, William Cavendish

Duke of, an English general who fought against the Covenanters, deserves a place here for the part he played in the warfare of a State Church against nonconforming religionists. He was born in 1592. He was the nephew of William Cavendish, founder of the ducal house of Devonshire; succeeded in 1617 to large estates, and devoted himself to poetry, music, and other accomplishments. In 1620 he was raised to the peerage as baron Ogle and viscount Mansfield, and in 1628 was created earl of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. At the outbreak of the civil wars he sided with the king, to whose treasury he contributed £10,000, and took the field at the head of 200 cavaliers. He was entrusted with the command of the four northern counties; and, raising an army of 10,000 men, he prostrated the power of the Parliament in that part of England, defeated Sir Thomas Fairfax at Atherton Moor, June 30, 1643, and was made marquis of Newcastle. Subsequently he held the Scots in check at Durham; but was obliged in April, 1644, in consequence of the defeat of colonel Bellasis at Selby, to throw himself with all his forces into York, where for the next three months he sustained an investment by a greatly superior army under Fairfax. Upon the advance of the royal army under Rupert, he joined the latter, with the greater part of the garrison, and endeavored to persuade him that, having raised the siege, he had better defer a battle until the arrival of reinforcements. This advice was disregarded, and the battle of Marston Moor was fought, which ruined the royal cause in the North. Marquis of Newcastle then forced his way with a few followers to Scarborough, set sail for the Continent, and established himself in Antwerp. His estates having been sequestrated by Parliament in 1652, he lived in extreme poverty during the protectorate; but on the restoration He received substantial honors, and in March, 1664, was created earl of Ogle and duke of Newcastle. Clarendon says "he was a very fine gentleman, active, and full of courage." For further details, see the excellent article in the American Cyclopaedia, 12:282, 283. See also Stoughton, Eccles. Hist. of Enyland (Restoration), 2:58; Stephens, Eccles. Hist. of Scotland, 2:24, 278; Clarendon, History of the Great Rebellion, vol. 1, bk. 6, sq.