Lord Richard Frederick Cavendish

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Lord Richard Frederick Cavendish, CB, CMG, PC, DL, JP (31 January 1871 – 7 January 1946) was a British aristocrat, author, magistrate and a politician. He crossed the floor from being a supporter of the Liberal Unionists to being a member of the Liberal Party in 1904. Therefore he was one of the few Liberal MPs who lost their seat in the 1906 election. He was on Asquith's list of Peers in case the Parliament Act was not passed by the Lords.

He was a prominent figure in the Cavendish dynasty, as a grandson of William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire and a younger son of Lord Edward Cavendish MP. His grandson Hugh Cavendish, Baron Cavendish of Furness is the heir presumptive to his cousin Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire after William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington.

He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was elected in the 1895 general election as Member of Parliament for North Lonsdale. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1912. As President of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society, he visited Lancaster in 1925. He was the Lord of the Manor, residing at Holker Hall (where his descendants remain to this day) and owned the Swan Hotel at Newby Bridge. He was an active freemason and a keen golfer.

He was appointed chairman of the Royal Commission on Systems of Election in December 1908, with the mandate "to secure a fully representative character for popularly elected legislative bodies" and "to consider whether, and how far, they, or any of them, are capable of application in this country in regard to the existing electorate". The commission reported in 1910, recommending the abolition of two member constituencies "as soon as possible"; this was implemented. The commission also recommended the adoption of an alternative vote system, which was not implemented.

He married Lady Moyra de Vere Beauclerk, a daughter of the 10th Duke of St Albans and they had seven children. Ordinarily, as the male-line grandson of a Duke he would not be entitled to use the prefix "Lord" before his Christian name, but because his elder brother Victor Cavendish, acceded as the 9th Duke of Devonshire, he was elevated to the rank of a son of a duke along with his younger brother Lord John Cavendish.

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