Bentinck, the second son of the 3rd Duke of Portland joined the Coldstream Guards in 1791, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1803 he was, to some surprise, appointed Governor of Madras. Although his tenure was moderately successful, but was brought to an end by a mutiny at Vellore in 1806, prompted by Bentinck's order that the native troops be forbidden to wear their traditional attire. Only after serious violence was order restored and the offending policy rescinded, and Bentinck was recalled in 1807.
After service in the Peninsular War, Bentinck was appointed commander of British troops in Sicily. A Whig, Bentinck used this position to meddle in internal Sicilian affairs, effecting the King's withdrawal from government in favor of his son, the Crown Prince, the reactionary queen's disgrace, and an attempt to devise a constitutional government for the troubled island, all of which ultimately ended in failure. In 1814, Bentinck landed with British and Sicilian troops at Genoa, and commenced to make liberal proclamations of a new order in Italy which embarrassed the British government (which intended to give much of Italy to Austria), and led, once again, to his recall in 1815.
Bentinck returned to England and served in the House of Commons for some years, before being appointed Governor-General of India in 1827. Although his financial management of India was quite impressive, he also began a policy of westernization in India, influenced by the Utilitaranism of Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, which was more controversial. Reforming the court system, he made English, rather than Persian, the language of the higher courts, and encouraged western-style education for Indians, in order to provide more educated Indians for service in the British bureaucracy. He also took steps to suppress the Suttee, the Hindu custom of widow-burning, and other Indian customs which the British viewed as barbaric. Although his reforms met little resistance at the time, it has been argued that they brought on dissatisfaction which ultimately led to the great Mutiny of 1857.
Bentinck returned to England in 1835, refusing a peerage, and again entered the House of Commons. He died in Paris four years later.
Bentinck, the second son of the 3rd Duke of Portland joined the Coldstream Guards in 1791, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
A Whig, Bentinck used this position to meddle in internal Sicilian affairs, effecting the King's withdrawal from government in favor of his son, the Crown Prince, the reactionary queen's disgrace, and an attempt to devise a constitutional government for the troubled island, all of which ultimately ended in failure.
Bentinck returned to the UK in 1835, refusing a peerage, and again entered the House of Commons as a member for the Glasgow constituency, in Scotland.
Bentinck, LordWilliam Cavendish 1774-1839, governor-general of India, second son of William Henry, third Duke of Portland [qv.], was born 14 Sept. 1774.
Bentinck was next appointed, with the rank of lieutenant-general, to command a division in Sir Arthur Wellesley's army; but he appears shortly afterwards to have been sent to Germany to make arrangements for raising a German contingent, which was subsequently employed under his command in Sicily and on the east coast of Spain.
Bentinck's first duty was to devise means of reducing the expenses in every branch of the administration which was susceptible of reduction, and although in carrying out this duty he was merely obeying the repeated orders of the court of directors, the result for a time was much personal unpopularity.
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