George Cavendish-Bentinck - Political Career

Political Career

Cavendish-Bentinck stood unsuccessfully for the borough of Taunton at the general election April 1859, but was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough at a by-election in August that year. He held the seat until the 1865 general election, when he was returned unopposed for Whitehaven. He held that seat until his death in 1891. He served in the second Conservative administration of Benjamin Disraeli as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1874 to 1875 and as Judge Advocate General from 1875 to 1880. In 1875 he was sworn of the Privy Council.

Apart from his legal and political career, Cavendish-Bentinck was a Trustee of the British Museum from 1875 until his death and a Justice of the Peace for Cumberland and Dorset. In 1885, he was one of the staunchest adversary of William Thomas Stead during the Eliza Armstrong case.