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.
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. He was an original governor of the Foundling Hospital in London, founded in 1739, and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1741. On 11 June 1734 he married Lady Margaret Harley, daughter of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer. They had six children:
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".
Portland died in May 1762, aged 53, was buried at Westminster Abbey. He was succeeded in the dukedom by his eldest son William, who became Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Duchess of Portland died in 1785.
Also, the Duke was the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth the Second current reigning monarch of Great Britain. 1952-