Described as 'a little, weak, crooked man’ by John Aubrey, he studied mathematics himself, as well as supporting others, including Walter Warner, Robert Payne, and William Oughtred.

At the request of his brother, he returned to England in 1651, and managed to purchase Bolsover Castle and Welbeck Abbey, which had been confiscated by Parliament.

It grew around Thomas Hobbes and John Pell, with Sir Kenelm Digby joining in Paris,[7] and also included William Petty.

He supported William Oughtred, and was a friend of John Wallis, Marin Mersenne and Claude Mydorge; he later met René Descartes, Gilles de Roberval and Pierre Gassendi.

[9] As a royalist, Cavendish's estates were sequestered in 1649, preventing him settling land on his creditors as repayment, including Charles Moseley and the upholsterer Ralph Grynder.