CAVENDISH, the surname of the Devonshire ducal family, traceable back to the 14th century.

CAVENDISH, GEORGE, the biographer of Wolsey; never left him while he lived, and never forgot him or the lesson of his life after he was dead; this appears from the vivid picture he gives of him, though written 30 years after his death (1500-1561).

CAVENDISH, LORD FREDERICK, brother of the ninth Duke of Devonshire, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Liberal; was made Chief-Secretary for Ireland in 1882, but chancing to walk home one evening through the Phoenix Park, he fell a victim, stabbed to the heart, of a conspiracy that was aimed at Mr. Burke, an unpopular subordinate, who was walking along with him, and came to the same fate.  Eight months after, 20 men were arrested as concerned in the murder, when one of the 20 informed; five of them were hanged; the informer Carey was afterwards murdered, and his murderer, O’Donnel, hanged (1836-1882).

CAVENDISH, HENRY, natural philosopher and chemist, born at Nice, of the Devonshire family; devoted his entire life to scientific investigations; the first to analyse the air of the atmosphere, determine the mean density of the earth, discover the composition of water, and ascertain the properties of hydrogen; was an extremely shy, retiring man; born rich and died rich, leaving over a million sterling (1731-1810).

CAVENDISH, SPENCER COMPTON, ninth Duke of Devonshire, for long known in public life as Marquis of Hartington; also educated at Trinity College, and a leader of the Liberal party; served under Gladstone till he adopted Home Rule for Ireland, but joined Lord Salisbury in the interest of Union, and one of the leaders of what is called the Liberal-Unionist party; b. 1833.

CAVENDISH, THOMAS, an English navigator, fitted out three vessels to cruise against the Spaniards; extended his cruise into the Pacific; succeeded in taking valuable prizes, with which he landed in England, after circumnavigating the globe; he set out on a second cruise, which ended in disaster, and he died in the island of Ascension broken-hearted (1555-1592).

CAVENDISH, WILLIAM, English courtier and cavalier in the reigns of James I. and Charles I.; joined Charles II. in exile; returned at the Restoration; was made Duke of Newcastle; wrote on horsemanship (1592-1676).

CAVENDISH, WILLIAM, first Duke of Devonshire; friend and protector of Lord William Russell; became a great favourite at court, and was raised to the dukedom (1640-1707).

CAVIARE, the roe (the immature ovaries) of the common sturgeon and other kindred fishes, caught chiefly in the Black and Caspian Seas, and prepared and salted; deemed a great luxury by those who have acquired the taste for it; largely imported from Astrakhan.