In his book, Winter Fruit: English Drama 1642-1660, Dale B.J. Randall ponders the importance of the Cavendish family’s influence on literary output during the Civil War and post-Civil War era: “Why might the Cavendishes warrant a chapter of their own? Simply put, we rarely find so many members of a single family concerned with writing drama.”1 While certainly, this is true, when one looks closer into this family you realise there is more at work within the confines of their activities than simply their dramatic writing concerns. What this thesis will attempt to do is take Randall's statement further and look at the reasons why the Cavendish women not only partook in patronage but what they ultimately achieved through their activities. In Randall's work, he focuses on the influence of the Newcastle Cavendishes – William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, his second wife Margaret Lucas Cavendish, and two of his daughters, Elizabeth and Jane. While I am not contradicting Randall’s thesis that the concentration of literary endeavours within these two generations is indeed unusual, this thesis will look at further generations and expand upon Randall’s original thesis and try to ascertain how this rare familial interest came about.