William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland

The Duke of Portland
William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland (Christian Friedrich Zincke)
Personal details
Born(1709-03-01)1 March 1709
Died1 May 1762(1762-05-01) (aged 53)
Resting placeWestminster Abbey
NationalityEnglish
SpouseLady Margaret Harley
ChildrenElizabeth Thynne, Marchioness of Bath
Henrietta Grey, Countess of Stamford
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
Lady Margaret Bentinck
Lady Frances Bentinck
Lord Edward Bentinck
Parent(s)Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland
Elizabeth Noel
Quartered arms of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, KG

William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland KG (1 March 1709 – 1 May 1762), styled Viscount Woodstock from 1709 to 1716 and Marquess of Titchfield from 1716 to 1726, was a British peer and politician.

Portland was the son of Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland and his wife Elizabeth Noel, daughter of Wriothesley Baptist Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough. He succeeded his father in the dukedom as a teen in 1726. He was an original governor of the Foundling Hospital in London, founded in 1739, and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1741. On 11 June 1734, he married Lady Margaret Harley, daughter of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer. They had six children:

The Duke did not seek any public office, but focused on his family life at the family seat, Bulstrode Park.

Portland is identified in The Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities (1909) as one of the perpetrators of The Great Bottle Hoax of 1749, in which a large crowd was lured to a London theatre with the expectation of seeing a man jump into a "quart bottle".[citation needed]

Portland died in May 1762, aged 53, was buried at Westminster Abbey. He was succeeded in the dukedom by his eldest son William, who became Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Duchess of Portland died in 1785.[citation needed]

Peerage of England
Preceded by Duke of Portland
1726–1762
Succeeded by

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