Chatsworth

The 9th Duke

The 9th Duke (1868-1938) and his wife Lady Evelyn Fitzmaurice, daughter of the 5th Marquess of Lansdown (Viceroy of India 1888-1894), had seven children. He was a Member of Parliament from 1891 and like most of his predecessors loved politics and continued to attend the House of Lords after the death of his uncle. He had office as financial secretary to the Treasury and from 1916 to 1921 was Governor-General of Canada.

When the Duke and Duchess moved to Chatsworth in 1908 a lot of work had to be done to the house, including the complete renewal of the drainage system. Evelyn Duchess interested herself in the collections and became very well knowledgeable about the contents of the various houses, while her husband was an attentive landlord and enjoyed his farming and sporting activities. The 9th Duke was the first to have to pay death duties, which amounted over half a million pounds. Added to the even greater running debt left by the failure of the 7th Dukes business ventures, this forced some major sales. All the Caxton books in the library and the John Kemble collection of plays, including many rare first editions of Shakespeare, were sold in 1912 to the Huntington Library in California, and Devonshire House and its three acres in Piccadilly were sold in 1920.