20th century thumbnail|Chatsworth, c. 1913. Social change and taxes in the early 20th century began to affect the Devonshires' lifestyle. When the 8th Duke died in 1908 over £500,000 of death duties became due. This was a small charge compared with that of 42 years later, but the estate was already burdened with debt from the 6th Duke's extravagances, the failure of the 7th Duke's business ventures at Barrow-in-Furness, and the depression in British agriculture apparent since the 1870s. In 1912 the family sold 25 books printed by William Caxton and a collection of 1,347 volumes of plays acquired by the 6th Duke, including four Shakespeare folios and 39 Shakespeare quartos, to the Huntington Library in California. Tens of thousands of acres of land in Somerset, Sussex and Derbyshire were also sold during or just after the First World War.
20th century thumbnail|Chatsworth c 1913 Social change and taxes in the early 20th century began to affect the Devonshires' lifestyle When the 8th Duke died in 1908 over £500000 of death duties became due This was a small charge compared with that of 42 years later but the estate was already burdened with debt from the 6th Duke's extravagances the failure of the 7th Duke's business ventures at Barrow-in-Furness and the depression in British agriculture apparent since the 1870s In 1912 the family sold 25 books printed by William Caxton and a collection of 1347 volumes of plays acquired by the 6th Duke including four Shakespeare folios and 39 Shakespeare quartos to the Huntington Library in California Tens of thousands of acres of land in Somerset Sussex and Derbyshire were also sold during or just after the First World War