William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland
William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, styled Viscount Woodstock from 1709 to 1716 and Marquess of Titchfield from 1716 to 1726, was a British peer and politician.
Early life
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.Career
He was an original governor of the Foundling Hospital in London, founded in 1739, and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1741.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 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".
Personal life
On 11 June 1734, he married Lady Margaret Harley, daughter of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer. They had six children:- Lady Elizabeth Bentinck, who married Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath
- Lady Henrietta Bentinck, who married George Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford
- William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, who married Lady Dorothy Cavendish daughter of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
- Lady Margaret Bentinck
- Lady Frances Bentinck
- Lord Edward Charles Cavendish-Bentinck, married Elizabeth Cumberland