William Cavendish in Eastbourne

 

Appropriately we were staying at The Cumberland Hotel. The statue outside in Devonshire Place rang some bells as did the Cavendish Hotel opposite. The statue is of William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire and listed as FRS. He is the one of the family who was Second Wrangler at Cambridge - ie second best mathematician in his year - and who founded the Cavendish Laboratory and endowed a Physics professorship. The man was a friend of physics, and also of Barrow, it seems. His investments in Barrow-in-Furness are remembered in names like the Devonshire Dock. He lived at Holker Hall - and the Bluebirds play in Holker Street!