Husband #2
Sometime in 1545, Bess probably became a waiting gentlewoman in the household of Lady Frances Grey, mother of the Nine Days’ Queen, Lady Jane, then about 9 years old. Lady Frances was the niece of Henry VIII, so this was a significant step-up from the Zouches. There she met her next husband, Sir William Cavendish (c.1505-57), a friend of Henry Grey. Cavendish was more than twice her age, and rather fat, but Bess decided to accept his advances, and they married in 1547. Marrying Cavendish, the Lord Treasurer, made Bess Lady Cavendish, and significantly improved her social standing.
Cavendish was a close friend of Henry VIII, and instrumental in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which made him enviably rich and allowed to choose which monastic estates to have for himself. Cavendish was, however, twice-widowed, and already had two daughters. He owned significant lands in the South of England, but possibly under Bess’s influence, sold these off and purchased Chatsworth in Derbyshire. Bess bore Cavendish a staggering eight children, two of whom died in infancy, making a very large household indeed. The couple spent lavishly on improving and decorating their estates and living a life of the finest luxury.
Unfortunately, when Cavendish died in 1557, he was heavily in debt, having lost a court case brought by Mary I over his alleged mismanagement of treasury funds, and was deemed personally responsible for certain expenditures. Once again, Bess fought hard against the debt, using her new network of contacts, in order to save her estate. Learning that Mary was fatally ill, Bess cunningly petitioned her likely successor, Princess Elizabeth, godmother to one of her children, to drop the debt when she became queen. She visited her namesake at Hatfield, where she also met one William St Loe, a wealthy knight…