Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle was the only surviving daughter of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and Lady Dorothy Savile. Her mother was the daughter of William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax and Lady Mary Finch, daughter of 2nd Earl of Nottingham^[1]

On 28 March 1748, she married William Cavendish, then the Marquess of Hartington, who later became the 4th Duke of Devonshire and the Prime Minister of Great Britain. The advantageous union had been arranged since childhood and was happy. The marriage helped him rise politically. They had four children: William, Dorothy, Richard, and George.^[1]

Baroness Clifford of Londesborough edit

Charlotte inherited great wealth upon the death of her father in 1754.^[1] As the heir of her father, she succeeded to the title of Baroness Clifford of Londesborough suo jure. Through her marriage, the Cavendish family, with the main title of Duke of Devonshire, inherited the 3rd Earl of Burlington's estates (the title went to the Orrery Boyles).^{[citation needed]} These estates included: Burlington House, Piccadilly, London (now the Royal Academy of Arts); Chiswick House, London;^[1] Londesborough Hall, Yorkshire; Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire; Lismore Castle, County Waterford, Ireland. Charlotte was her father's sole remaining heir.

The Marchioness of Hartington died on 8 December 1754 at Uppingham, Rutland^[1] from smallpox.^[2] The next year her husband William succeeded his father as Duke of Devonshire.

Issue edit

Charlotte and her husband William had four children:

• William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (14 December 1748 – 29 July 1811)
• Lady Dorothy Cavendish (27 August 1750 – 3 June 1794), who married William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland.
• Lord Richard Cavendish (19 June 1752 – 7 September 1781)
• George Augustus Henry Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington (31 March 1754 – 4 May 1834)

Works cited

• Schweizer, Karl Wolfgang (2004). "Cavendish, William, fourth duke of Devonshire (bap. 1720, d. 1764)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4949. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)