When the 8th Duke of Devonshire died in 1908 he was succeeded by his nephew Victor Cavendish.
Like most of his predecessors, Victor was a keen politician and was a Member of Parliament from 1891. He held office as Financial Secretary to the Treasury and from 1916 to 1921 was Governor-General of Canada.
In 1892 the Duke married Lady Evelyn Fitzmaurice, daughter of the 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (Viceroy of India, 1888 - 1894), and together they had seven children.
When the Duke and Duchess moved to Chatsworth in 1908 the house required a lot of work, including the complete renewal of the drainage system. Duchess Evelyn became very knowledgeable about the contents of their various houses and the care and conservation they required, while the Duke was an attentive landlord.
The 9th Duke was the first to have to pay death duties, amounting to over half a million pounds (around £57 million today). This, in addition to the running debt resulting from the failure of the 7th Duke's business ventures, forced some major sales from the collection. All the Caxton books in the Library and the John Kemble collection of plays, including rare Shakespeare folios and quartos, were sold to the Huntington Library in California in 1912. Devonshire House in Piccadilly and its three acres of land was sold in 1919.
In 1932, Victor's second son, Charles, married actress and comedienne Adele Astaire, sister of dancer and actor Fred Astaire.
Victor died in 1932 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Cavendish.
