He inherited the Portland estates, based around
Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, from his cousin
William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland, in 1879. He also succeeded his stepmother as second
Baron Bolsover in 1893. His half-sister,
Lady Ottoline Morrell, was a society hostess and patron of the arts associated with the
Bloomsbury Group. He owned 183,000 acres with 101,000 acres in Caithness with 43,000 acres in Nottinghamshire and 35,000 acres in Northumberland.
Public life Portland initially embarked on a military career and served as a lieutenant in the
Coldstream Guards from 1877 to 1880, and then as lieutenant-colonel of the part-time
Honourable Artillery Company from 1881 to 1889. He was honorary colonel of the
1st Lanarkshire Artillery Volunteers from 1884 to 1891, of the
4th (Royal Sherwood Foresters Militia) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, from 1889 and its
Special Reserve successor from 1908, He sat on the Conservative benches in the
House of Lords and held office as
Master of the Horse under
Lord Salisbury from 1886 to 1892 and from 1895 to 1902 and under
Arthur Balfour from 1902 to 1905. In 1886, he was sworn of the
Privy Council. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the
Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1896, and was a holder of the
Royal Victorian Chain. receiving the insignia in an investiture by
Queen Victoria at
Windsor Castle on 16 March 1900. He was appointed a Knight of Justice of the
Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England (KStJ) in July 1901. He also held the Grand Cross of the
Order of Charles III (Spain), 1st Class
Order of St Sava (
Serbia) the Grand Cordon of the
Order of the Crown (Belgium), He was
Lord-Lieutenant of Caithness from 1889 to 1919,
Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire from 1898 to 1939, a
Deputy Lieutenant of
Ayrshire, and a trustee of the
British Museum. The Portlands received
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria at
Welbeck Abbey for a week in 1913 when the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne visited England. During the stay he took the Archduke shooting on the estate when, according to Portland's memoirs,
Men, Women and Things: From 1937 to 1943 he was
Chancellor of the Order of the Garter. At the
coronation of
King George VI Portland carried the crown of
Queen Elizabeth, whose mother (the
Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne) was his cousin. It was at his estate in Langwell that the Sunderland Flying boat carrying
Prince George, Duke of Kent (the King's youngest brother) crashed while en route to a
RAF Base in
Iceland.
Thoroughbred horse racing Portland inherited the estate and
stud farm near
Clumber Park in
North Nottinghamshire. Among the horses he owned was
St. Simon, who won the 1884
Ascot Gold Cup. He also bred and owned
Ayrshire and
Donovan, who won the 1888 and 1889 runnings of
the Derby. in 1890 Portland built "The Winnings", a row of 6
almshouses at
Welbeck Abbey, with the proceeds of his horse racing successes. ==Personal life==