Catherine Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (; 17008 May 1777), was the wife of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, and mother of the 4th Duke.
Family background She was the only child and heiress of John Hoskins of Oxted (1640–16 May 1717), and his wife, the former Catherine Hale (1673–1703), daughter of William Hale.Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. Page 1128 Her mother's brother was the judge, Sir Bernard Hale,G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume IV, page 346. and her first cousins were the army generals Bernard and John Hale.
Marriage and children She married Cavendish, then an MP and known as the Marquess of Hartington, on 27 March 1718. The Marquess inherited the dukedom in 1729.
Their children were:
Lady Caroline Cavendish (1719–1760), who married William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough, and had children. William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (1720–1764), who married Charlotte Boyle, 6th Baroness Clifford, and had children. Lord George Augustus Cavendish, MP (died 2 May 1794), who died unmarried. Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (before 1727–1796), who married John Ponsonby, MP, and had children. Lady Rachel Cavendish (1727–1805), who married Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, and had children.L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 211 was a British Whig politician. Field Marshal Lord Frederick Cavendish (c.1729–1803), who died unmarried. Lord John Cavendish (c.1734–1796), who died unmarried.R. B. McDowell and John A. Woods (eds.), The Correspondence of Edmund Burke. Volume IX: Part One. May 1796-July 1797. Part Two. Additional and Undated Letters (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), p. 202.
In 1733, Devonshire House (formerly Berkeley House), their London home, burned down while in the process of refurbishment, possibly because of the builders' carelessness.London Online; Berkeley House and Devonshire House retrieved 30 September 2010; Sykes, Christopher Simon. Private Palaces: Life in the Great London Houses, p. 98, Chatto & Windus, 1985 They employed William Kent to design their new residence, which stood until the 1920s, when much of the contents was transferred to Chatsworth House, the family seat in Derbyshire.
Later life The duke died in 1755 and was succeeded by their eldest son, William, to whose marriage to the exceptionally wealthy Lady Charlotte Boyle Catherine was bitterly opposed. However, at her husband's death, since Charlotte had died the previous year and the young duke did not remarry, Catherine remained mistress of Chatsworth until her grandson, the 5th Duke, married 17-year-old Georgiana Spencer in 1774.
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