| Constituency | Dates |
|---|---|
| Bere Alston | – 6 June 1721 |
| St Germans | 1722 |
| Portsmouth | 1741 – 14 July 1743 |
Lt. R.N. 1694, capt. 1701, r.-adm. 1728, v.-adm. 1732, adm. 1736; porter of St. James’s Palace 1705 – 36, serjeant porter 1736 – d.; treasurer of Greenwich Hospital 1721 – 35; ld. of Admiralty Mar. 1742-Dec. 1743.
After an uneventful naval career,2Charnock, Biog. Navalis, iii. 215. Cavendish was put up for Bere Alston on the Hobart interest in succession to his father-in-law, Edward Carteret. He was opposed by St. John Brodrick, who was returned on petition, in spite of ‘the most warm and personal solicitation’ of Cavendish’s wife’s first cousin, Lord Carteret, and other ministers, except Walpole, who supported Brodrick.3St. John Brodrick to Ld. Midleton 6, June 1721, Brodrick mss. Brought in by the Government for St. Germans in 1722, he failed to obtain a seat in 1727, though his father-in-law, Edward Carteret, did his best to bring him in on the Post Office interest for Harwich.4HMC Egmont Diary, i. 21. Before the 1734 election Sir Charles Wager wrote to Walpole: ‘The Duke of Devonshire desires, I suppose, that Admiral Cavendish should be chosen with me in the next Parliament for Portsmouth’, for which he was duly returned on the Admiralty interest,5Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss, 8 Dec. 1732. voting with the Government. After Walpole’s fall he was appointed to the new Admiralty board and was classed as ‘Pelham’ in the Cockpit list of October 1742. He died 14 July 1743.