Cavendish family papers relating to Hobbes

This series predominently comprises material created in the course of Thomas Hobbes's life at Hardwick and Chatsworth as tutor and secretary and later under the patronage of the Cavendish Earls of Devonshire. The link between all these items in this series is the Cavendish family.

Some items were produced as a direct consequence of Hobbes's tutoring of the 2nd and 3rd Earls, such as the Latin digest of Artistole's "Rhetoric" (HS/D/1); the geometrical exercises (HS/D/2) and the "Essays" probably written by William Cavendish (1590-1628) (HS/D/3).

Other material in this series was created by or for others in the Cavendish household but in some way links to Hobbes. This includes the "narration of proceedings...concerning the inheritance of William Earl of Devonshire" (HS/D/6) which was produced for the 3rd Earl but is signed by Hobbes and explains his role as mediator between the 3rd Earl and Christian Cavendish (the Earl's mother) in relation to her handling of his inherited estates. It also includes the fragment of a formal political disputation (HS/D/5), which was written by the 4th Earl to Hobbes with his answer on the same sheet, and the two memorandums written by servants in the Cavendish household, one of which has little relation to Hobbes other than being written by Hobbes's amanuenis James Whildon.

The last type of material in this series comprises items that have been included in the Hobbes archive on the assumption that they have some connection to Hobbes, when they are in fact items created by Cavendish family members around this period but bear no relation to Hobbes (see HS/D/9 and HS/D/4).

The current arrangement is based on that in the 1977 RCHM report. The series is recorded in the 1977 RCHM report as: "Papers connected with Hobbes in his relation to the Cavendish Family", and was likely arranged in its current form by 1936. In 2021, as part of fully cataloguing this collection for online publication, minor rearrangement took place as follows:
HS/D/9 which was formerly in the 'F' series as HS/F/1 was placed with the D series due to the F series containing only two items neither of which related to each other. This item bears more relation to the other manuscript by the future 2nd Earl (1590-1628) in the Hobbes collection (HS/D/3), though there is some doubt that HS/D/9 was actually produced during Hobbes's employment as tutor. Within this series itself the rest of the items were left in their original listing which appears to be exercise-related items first and general notes and memos following these. HS/D/9 was added to the end of the series so as not to disrupt the original reference numbers in this series.

Humphrey Poole was Derbyshire receiver for the Cavendish estates from the mid-1640s until his death in 1667. This role involved accounting for all income and outgoings across the estates and disbursing any collected, unspent income to the receiver in London.

James Whildon was the baker to the 3rd Earl of Devonshire before he became secretary and amanuensis to Thomas Hobbes, then executor of Hobbes's estate and later Derbyshire receiver for the Cavendish family estates, until c. 1700, when the accounting system was overhauled.

Both the 2nd and 3rd Earls of Devonshire (both called William Cavendish) were tutored by Thomas Hobbes and accompanied by him on their tours of Europe at the end of their education.

James Whildon, who spelt his name both Whildon and Wheldon was auditor of the Earl of Devonshire's Derbyshire estates. Prior to that he was the baker for the 1st Earl and became amanuensis to Hobbes in 1654, possibly on account of his very neat handwriting. He also copied documents for the Cavendish family and was comissioned in 1657 to compile a new catalogue of the library books at Hardwick. He was executor to Hobbes's will and his personal account book (HMS/1/34 ,Hardwick MS 19) contains a draft of Hobbes's will.

William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire (1590-1628), nobleman, was the second son of William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire (1551-1626), and his first wife, Anne Keighley. He was educated by Thomas Hobbes and who accompanied him on a tour through France and Italy before his coming of age. Hobbes states that he was his pupil's friend for twenty years, and eulogizes his learning in the dedication of his translation of Thucydides. Cavendish was admitted to Gray's Inn on 14 May 1602, and it is asserted that he was created MA at Cambridge, incorporated at Oxford on 8 July 1608. He was knighted at Whitehall in 1609. He married, allegedly against his will, on 10 April 1608; his wife was Christian Bruce (1595-1675), daughter of Edward, Lord Bruce of Kinloss, and later a notable royalist. Cavendish was after this a leader of court society, and an intimate friend of James I. He was MP for Bishop's Castle in 1610 and for Derbyshire in 1614, 1621, 1624, 1625, and 1626, and Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, jointly with his father in 1619 and alone after the latter's death. In April 1622 he introduced ambassadors from the emperor Ferdinand, Venice, and the United Provinces in an audience with the King.

Devonshire was a leading member of the Virginia and Somers Isles companies, frequently lobbying the crown on their behalf. His role in overseas adventure led, in 1623, to conflict with Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick; a duel was arranged, but prevented by the Privy Council. In 1625 he was present at Charles I's marriage with Henrietta Maria. Styled Lord Cavendish from 1616, early in 1626 he inherited his father's title and his seat in the House of Lords: there he resisted Buckingham's attempt to interpret a speech of Sir Dudley Digges as treasonous (13 May 1626). His lavish hospitality strained his ample resources in his last years, and in 1628 a private Act of Parliament enabled him to sell some of the entailed estates in discharge of his debts. Devonshire's London house was in Bishopsgate, on the site afterwards occupied by Devonshire Square. He died there (from excessive indulgence in good living, it is said) on 20 June 1628, and was buried on 11 July in All Saints' Church, Derby. He and his wife had three sons: William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, Charles Cavendish, army officer, and Henry, who died in youth. His daughter Anne, a well-known patroness of literature, married Robert, Lord Rich, heir of the earl of Warwick. [Source: Lee, Sidney, revised by Stater, Victor, Cavendish, William, second earl of Devonshire , (1590-1628), "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/4945. By permission of Oxford University Press.]

William Cavendish, 4th Earl of Devonshire was responsible for the rebuilding of Chatsworth House as it is today and was an MP before he took his seat in the House of Lords, inherited from his father in 1684. He played a signficant role in the bringing of William and Mary to England and thereby the deposition of James II, in the revolution of 1688, for which he was granted the title 1st Duke of Devonshire in 1694.