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The Duke's subsidiary titles are: Marquess of Hartington (created 1694), Earl of Devonshire (1618), Earl of Burlington (1831), Baron Cavendish of Hardwick (1605) and Baron Cavendish of Keighley (1831). The Duke of Devonshire's eldest son may use the courtesy title Marquess of Hartington. The Marquessate of Hartington, the Earldom of Devonshire and the Barony of Cavendish of Hardwick are in the peerage of England, while the Earldom of Burlington and the Barony of Cavendish of Keighley are in the United Kingdom peerage.

The family name derives from the village of Cavendish, Suffolk, England and from Sir John Cavendish, who held the estate there in the 14th century and who died in the Peasants' Revolt.

His two great-grandsons were William Cavendish (pictured at right), the second husband of Bess of Hardwick, and George Cavendish, William's older brother and Thomas Cardinal Wolsey's biographer.

William Cavendish's descendants were Earls of Devonshire at first. The dukedomThe term duke is a title of nobility which refers to the sovereign male ruler of a Continental European duchy, to a nobleman of the highest grade of the British peerage, or to the highest rank of nobility in various other European countries, including Spa started when William Cavendish, the 4th Earl of Devonshire, was created the 1st Duke of Devonshire in 1694Events February 6 The colony Quilombo dos Palmares is destroyed. July 27 A Royal Charter is granted to the Bank of England. December 22 The Triennial Bill became law. December 28 Queen Mary II of England died; King William III of England, Scotland and Ire (see below).

Many of the Dukes of Devonshire have been prominent politicians, including one prime ministerIn the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is the head of government, exercising many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. According to custom, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (which he or she heads) are re, one leader of the Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which wo, and one Governor-General of Canada.

Despite the title, the family estates center in DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, which boasts some of England's most attractive hill and mountain scenery. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps wit. It is sometimes speculated that Derbyshire rather than Devonshire was intended on the original letters patent for the earldom, but no hard evidence supports this.