The Duke of Portland, William Bentinck, was born on April 14th, 1738. His father was the 2nd Duke of Portland and his mother was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Oxford. Like many Prime Ministers and politicians of his age he started his education at Westminster School. He then went on the Christ Church at Oxford where he was granted an MA.  Portland quickly gained a reputation as a ladies man and was involved in several affairs including Maria Waldegrave, who became the wife of the Duke of Gloucester and Anne Lidell who was the wife of the Duke of Grafton. The end of the second affair came about with the decision by Portland to marry a 16 year old daughter of the duke of Devonshire, Lady Dorothy Cavendish in 1766. Like many other politicians of his time, he choose to run for a seat in the House of Commons, which he won in 1761, as MP for Weobley Hertfordshire, and then upon his father's death he left the House and took up his hereditary seat in the House of Lords. He was not an active speaker in either the House of Lords or Commons and did not even give his maiden speech while in the Commons. In 1765 he achieved his first step towards real political power when Rockingham appointed him as Lord Chamberlain of the Household and retained this office during Chatham's ministry. He remained loyal to the Rockingham group in Parliament so by December of 1766 he made the decision to withdraw his support from Chatham in conjunction with several other Rockinghamite supporters. This move was intended to force Chatham to resign or at least to allow the Rockinghamites more of a share of power in the ministry. Their plan failed and Portland was to wander in the political wilderness for the next 18 years of his career. He struggle with financial issues during this period, due to legal actions and high living and high expenses.

He ended up having to sell dome of his hereditary lands in order to avoid bankruptcy. In 1782 Rockingham finally came back into power and he appointed Portland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He left for Dublin and on April 14th, 1782 assumed his post. Portland was forced to resigned his office and return to London in July of 1782 when Rockingham suddenly died and the Whigs elected Portland their new leader. 

The Earl of Shelburne took up the reigns of power and was able to hold on to office until February of 1783 when a Lord Fox/ Lord North coalition of forces forced him to step down. The Fox/North forces choose Portland as their Prime Minister but King George III who did not support this combination of politicians waited for his opportunity to strike and in December of 1783 when the fight over the India Bill eroded Portland's support and George asked the Ministry to step down. Portland remained on the oppositions benches until 1794 and served as Chancellor of Oxford University. In 1794 the dynamic Pitt the Younger convinced Portland to join his Ministry as Home Secretary where he faced food shortages and general unrest in the population. The actions of Portland's appointee, Earl Fitzwilliam, which would give Irish Catholics equal rights, was over ruled by Portland who recalled Fitzwilliam from Ireland in 1795.

Portland support unrestricted efforts to pass the Act of Union but in 1801 Pitt resigned due to King George's refusal to support Catholic Emancipation. Portland remained in office under Addington but in the position of Lord President of the Council. William Pitt was turned to once again in 1894 as the Napoleonic threat was growing and Portland supported Pitt and continued in office until Pitt's untimely death in 1806. Portland decided to retire for public life after Pitts's departure and settled at Bulstrode where his health declined and only after

abdominal surgery, a dangerous option in that age, was he able to regain his health and once more became active. The pressure on England from the French empire was enormous and the struggle to continue the battle against Napoleon made Parliamentary politics a tough and merciless sport. In March of 1807 George the III once again asked Portland to become Prime Minister and Portland accepted the leadership of a Tory government with the understanding that he was still a Whig.

He called and election which he won and then delegated power to capable and determined supporters, who unfortunately could not agree on policy between themselves. George Canning and Castlereagh. The two ended up by fighting a famous duel in 1809 in which neither was killed, but the split had been to much and both resigned. In August of 1809 Portland, in failing health, suffered a seizure and by October was forced to resign his office to Spencer Perceval. He died on October 30th, 1809 at the age of 71.