Look at a map of Eastbourne and one name appears again and again: Devonshire. It’s there in Devonshire Park, in Cavendish Place, in Compton Street and Burlington Place. All of it points back to one aristocratic family — the Cavendishes, Dukes of Devonshire — and above all to one man, the 7th Duke, who turned a scatter of sleepy hamlets into one of England’s most elegant seaside resorts.
• The Cavendish family, Dukes of Devonshire, with their seat at Chatsworth in Derbyshire
• Their Eastbourne home, Compton Place, in the family since 1782
• William Cavendish, 7th Duke (1808–1891) — the driving force behind the town
• Architect Henry Currey, hired in 1859 to plan an entire resort
• A town built, famously, “for gentlemen by gentlemen”
Who are the Dukes of Devonshire?
The Dukes of Devonshire are the senior branch of the Cavendish family, one of the wealthiest and most influential aristocratic families in Britain since the 16th century. The title was created in 1694 by William III in recognition of the family’s support during the Glorious Revolution, and the Cavendishes’ principal seat has long been the magnificent Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. Over the centuries members of the family have shaped British political, scientific and cultural life — and, in the 19th century, an entire town on the Sussex coast.
Compton Place: the family’s Eastbourne home
The family’s connection to Eastbourne runs through Compton Place, a Grade I listed country house set in parkland near the town centre. Originally a medieval manor, it was remodelled in the 18th century by leading architects including Colen Campbell and William Kent, with grounds later shaped by the celebrated landscape designer Lancelot “Capability” Brown. Compton Place came into the Cavendish family in 1782, through the marriage of Lady Elizabeth Compton to Lord George Cavendish — and with it came the extensive Eastbourne lands that would later be transformed into the town. It became a favourite residence of both the 7th and 9th Dukes, and the family owns it still, though in recent times it has been leased and used as a language school.
William Cavendish, the 7th Duke
The man who made modern Eastbourne was William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire. Born in 1808, he was a brilliant scholar — a gifted mathematician at Cambridge who became Chancellor of the University of London at just 28, and later Chancellor of Cambridge, where he funded the founding of the world-famous Cavendish Laboratory. A serious, rather austere man, he inherited the dukedom from his cousin, the “Bachelor Duke”, in 1858.
His personal life was marked by sorrow: his wife, Lady Blanche Howard, died in 1840 aged only 29, and he mourned her for the rest of his life. Where his predecessor had been famously extravagant, the 7th Duke imposed strict economy at Chatsworth — yet he poured money into two great development projects of his own: the industrial town of Barrow-in-Furness in the north, and the seaside resort of Eastbourne in the south.
Building a new town
Before 1800, “Eastbourne” was barely a town at all — just four separate hamlets and farmland set back from the sea. The arrival of the railway on 14 May 1849 changed everything, connecting the coast to London and opening the door to a new kind of resort. Sensing the opportunity, the Duke hired the architect Henry Currey in 1859 — first sending him to Europe for inspiration — to lay out a plan for what was essentially an entirely new town.
The result was a beautifully planned Victorian resort of wide, tree-lined avenues, elegant squares, gardens and baths. The Duke insisted the seafront be lined with hotels and grand houses rather than shops — a rule that gives Eastbourne’s promenade its distinctive, uncluttered grandeur to this day. He created Devonshire Park as a genteel centre for sport and entertainment, backed the building of the town’s Victorian pier, and helped establish Eastbourne College by selling land at a modest price and paying for the school chapel. The town that emerged became known as a resort built “for gentlemen by gentlemen” — and it earned Eastbourne the nickname “the Empress of Watering Places”.
Did you know? The reason Eastbourne’s seafront has almost no shops — just hotels, gardens and the promenade — is a direct legacy of the Duke’s Victorian vision for a refined, orderly resort.
The Devonshire name across Eastbourne today
The family’s fingerprints are all over the modern map. Their titles, seats and family names live on in Devonshire Park and Devonshire Place, Cavendish Place and Avenue, Compton Street and Place, Burlington Place (from the family’s earldom of Burlington), Hartington Place (from the Marquess of Hartington, the Duke’s heir’s courtesy title), and Chiswick and Carlisle roads. Devonshire Park remains a cultural hub, home to the Devonshire Park Theatre, the Congress Theatre and the international tennis, while the surrounding Devonshire Quarter keeps the name at the heart of the town’s life. At the top of Devonshire Place stands a statue of the 7th Duke himself, quietly presiding over the town he built.
The later Dukes
The 7th Duke died in 1891 and was succeeded by his son, Spencer Compton Cavendish, the 8th Duke — one of the towering political figures of the Victorian age, who is famously said to have turned down the chance to become Prime Minister three times. The 9th Duke, Victor Cavendish, served as Governor General of Canada and, like his forebears, was fond of Compton Place. Through it all, the family has retained its link to Eastbourne — a rare and remarkable continuity for a town so shaped by a single dynasty.
The Dukes of Devonshire: FAQs
Who built Eastbourne?
Eastbourne was developed as a planned Victorian seaside resort largely under William Cavendish, the 7th Duke of Devonshire, who from 1859 employed the architect Henry Currey to lay out the town.
Who was the 7th Duke of Devonshire?
William Cavendish (1808–1891) was an aristocrat, scholar and landowner. A distinguished Cambridge mathematician who founded the Cavendish Laboratory, he inherited vast estates and drove the development of both Eastbourne and Barrow-in-Furness.
Do the Dukes of Devonshire still own land in Eastbourne?
Yes. The family still owns Compton Place, their historic Eastbourne home, though it has in recent times been leased and used as a language school.
Why is it called Devonshire Park?
It’s named after the Dukes of Devonshire, who created it in the 19th century as a genteel centre for sport and entertainment. The Devonshire name comes from the family’s ducal title.
What is Compton Place?
It’s the Grade I listed 18th-century country house in Eastbourne that has been the Cavendish family’s local home since 1782, and the seat from which the town’s development was directed.
Few English towns owe so much to a single family. To see how it all fits into the bigger picture, read our complete history of Eastbourne — or discover the family’s enduring legacy of events at Devonshire Park in our guide to what’s on in Eastbourne.