Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire

Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (6 May 1895 – 26 November 1950), known as the Marquess of Hartington from 1908 to 1938, was a British politician. He was the head of the Devonshire branch of the House of Cavendish. He had careers with the army and in politics and was a senior freemason. His sudden death, apparently of a heart attack at the age of fifty-five, occurred in the presence of the physician and suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.

Early life Edward was born at 37, Park Lane, Mayfair,

He was, after his father's death, the owner of Chatsworth House, and one of the largest private landowners in both Great Britain and Ireland.

Military career The then Marquess of Hartington began service with the Territorial Army as a second lieutenant in the Derbyshire Yeomanry in 1913.

Mobilised at the outbreak of the First World War, he was an aide-de-camp (ADC) on the Personal Staff at the British Expeditionary Force's General Headquarters. In 1916, when promoted captain, he rejoined his regiment, in Egypt, and served in the latter stages of the Dardanelles campaign. He then returned to France, became attached to Military Intelligence, then to the War Office and the British Military Mission in Paris, and was twice mentioned in despatches. ultimately becoming the county's Lord Lieutenant from 1938 until his death.

William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington (10 December 1917 – 10 September 1944), married Kathleen Kennedy, sister of John F. Kennedy; killed in action in World War II Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire (2 January 1920 – 3 May 2004), married the Hon. Deborah Freeman-Mitford, youngest daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale Lady Mary Cavendish (6 November 1922 – 17 November 1922) Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Alice Cavendish (24 April 1926 – 15 September 2018) Lady Anne Evelyn Beatrice Cavendish (6 November 1927 – 9 August 2010), a prison visitor; married Michael Lambert Tree

The Duke's sister Dorothy was married to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. The Duke's younger brother Charles was married to American dancer Adele Astaire, sister of Fred Astaire.

Death

On 26 November 1950, he suffered a heart attack and died at his home Compton Place, Eastbourne, in the presence of his general practitioner, John Bodkin Adams, the suspected serial killer. Despite the fact that the duke had not seen a doctor in the 14 days before his death, the coroner was not notified as he should have been. Adams signed the death certificate stating that the Duke died of natural causes.

Thirteen days earlier, Edith Alice Morrell – another patient of Adams – had also died. Historian Pamela Cullen speculates that as the Duke was the head of British freemasonry, Adams – a member of the fundamentalist Plymouth Brethren – would have been motivated to withhold the necessary vital treatment, since the "Grandmaster of England would have been seen by some of the Plymouth Brethren as Satan incarnate". No proper police investigation was ever conducted into the death, but the duke's son, Andrew, later said "it should perhaps be noted that this doctor was not appointed to look after the health of my two younger sisters, who were then in their teens"; The prosecutor was Attorney-General Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, a distant cousin of the Duke (via their shared ancestor, George Cavendish).

Home Office pathologist Francis Camps linked Adams to 163 suspicious deaths in total, which would make him a precursor to Harold Shipman. Whilst the majority of the Duke's property transferred to the next Duke, his private funds of £796,473 8s. 9d. were willed to his widow Mary Alice, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.

Arms