Joy’s First News-Letter
On 9 April 1737 William Cavendish, third duke of Devonshire, was appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, replacing Lionel Sackville, duke of Dorset. He was sworn in on 7 September. The office made Devonshire the crown’s chief representative in a kingdom that retained its own Parliament, executive administration and legal institutions, yet remained constitutionally subordinate to Great Britain. The Declaratory Act of 1720 had asserted Westminster’s authority to legislate for Ireland and to hear final appeals. Thus Irish political life operated within narrow boundaries, even where Dublin’s parliamentarians guarded their local influence fiercely.