entrance hall, 11 glittering state rooms and
a 40ft library, with every small detail
designed by Kent, from the door surrounds
to the fireplaces.
For most of Austen’s life Devonshire
House was home to William Cavendish,
the 5th Duke of Devonshire, and his first
duchess, Georgiana. Married only a year
before Jane was born, the couple were soon
at the heart of fashionable and political
life. The Duke was fabulously wealthy (one
account put his annual income at as much
as £60,000) and Devonshire House was
not their only property, nor even their only
London house. They also owned Burlington
House, which was only 300 metres up the
street (and thus rented to relations), as well
as a villa at Chiswick, which was then a small
riverside village six miles outside the capital.
The couple’s country seat was Chatsworth
in Derbyshire, but they typically spent only
three months of the year there, preferring the
buzz of London and Devonshire House.
The family archives would certainly
suggest that this was the most important
house in the Cavendish family portfolio at
that time. In 1798 the contents were valued
at £29,285, significantly more than the
£22,321 valuation placed on the contents of
Chatsworth. The 5th duke appears to have
lavished money on the property, carrying
out regular works to alter and improve
it during his tenure. These were lovingly
overseen by Georgiana, who revelled in
the opportunity to showcase her talent for
design. The architect James Wyatt, who
was also employed by the Prince Regent
to undertake works at Carlton House, was
commissioned in 1776 and again in 1790
to make extensive changes, and the couple
regularly commissioned new furniture. It was
at Devonshire House that they also chose to
place their most impressive art. One visitor
in the 1790s called theirs “the finest private
collection in England” and noted that Titians,
Rembrandts and Van Dycks graced the walls
alongside numerous family portraits.
Because the 5th duke and duchess
were ardent supporters of the more liberal
Whig party – anti-slavery, supportive of the
American Revolution and firmly opposed
to the Tory government of George III –
Devonshire House became a centre for the
Whig opposition during their residence.
It was here that political meetings were
conducted informally over turtle dinners and
quiet suppers, ably hosted by Georgiana who
understood the important role that these
played in bringing together various factions
of the party, particularly during critical
periods such as the Regency crisis of 1788.
Thanks to its spacious drawing room, the
house was one of the best places for the party
to gather together and rally its supporters,
and thanks to Georgiana’s legendary skills
as a hostess, the best place to celebrate their
political victories with balls and parties.
The Prince Regent was a regular visitor
until he abandoned his Whig friends. He
and the Duchess enjoyed a close relationship,
although Georgiana’s biographers tend to
dispute allegations that there was anything
more than friendship between them. It was
at Devonshire House, with the support and
assistance of Georgiana, that the Prince
conducted secret meetings with his mistress,
Mrs Fitzherbert, before the pair were
secretly married. A library bookcase with a
concealed door was supposedly the means
by which he passed into her bedroom at the
house – or so the 12th Duke said when the
bookcase was sold at Sotheby’s in 2010 with
several other relics.
Devonshire House also gained notoriety
thanks to Georgiana’s obsession with
gambling. Such was her passion that she is
said to have arranged her drawing rooms
so that they resembled a gaming house and
charged professional croupiers 50 guineas
a night to preside over the faro tables. It
was a risky business, with other ladies being
prosecuted for setting up similar enterprises
in their houses.
As leaders of the ton, every action of the
Devonshires was newsworthy; scarcely a
week went by without the house, its owners
or their dinner guests appearing in the society
pages of the London newspapers. They were
influencers long before the word gained its
current meaning: in 1803, for example, the
Morning Post informed its readers that “the
French Cotillions danced at Devonshire
House on Wednesday are a new stile of
dancing just introduced”. Their celebrity
status aside, however, the couple used theirGeorgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
(Chatsworth House)