Bentinck, William Henry Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Portland 1738-1809
English statesman

He became an MP in 1761, succeeding to the dukedom in 1762. His first Cabinet post was as Lord Chamberlain of the Household under the Marquis of Rockingham (1765-66). Along with other aristocratic Whigs, he maintained connection with Rockingham which kept him in opposition until 1782, when he was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was nominal head of the ministry usually known as the Fox-North coalition (1783) which George III hated and rapidly dismissed. He led the Whigs in opposition to William Pitt, the Younger until 1794, when he agreed to join him in a coalition government to provide order and stability and to meet the challenge of the French Revolutionary Wars. Some have seen the Pitt-Portland coalition as the foundation of the Tory (later called Conservative) Party. He served as Home Secretary (1794-1801) during a period of considerable radical disturbance in England and rebellion in Ireland (1798), and as Lord President of the Council under Henry Addington (Viscount Sidmouth) in 1801-03. In Pitt's last ministry he was successively Lord President (1804-05) and Minister without Portfolio (1805-06). He was summoned by George III in 1807 to head an administration of Pittites after the fall of the 'Ministry of all the Talents'; by now old, frail and gouty, he was little more than titular leader until his death in office.