James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury

The Most Honourable
The Marquess of Salisbury
KG GCVO CB PC
Leader of the House of Lords
In office
27 April 1925 – 4 June 1929
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
Succeeded by The Lord Parmoor
Lord Privy Seal
In office
6 November 1924 – 4 June 1929
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by John Robert Clynes
Succeeded by James Henry Thomas
In office
17 October 1903 – 4 December 1905
Monarch Edward VII
Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury
Arthur Balfour
Preceded by Arthur Balfour
Succeeded by The Marquess of Ripon
Lord President of the Council
In office
24 October 1922 – 22 January 1924
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by Arthur Balfour
Succeeded by The Lord Parmoor
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office
24 October 1922 – 25 May 1923
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by Sir William Sutherland
Succeeded by J. C. C. Davidson
Personal details
Born (1861-10-23)23 October 1861
London, United Kingdom
Died 4 April 1947(1947-04-04) (aged 85)
London, United Kingdom
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Lady Cicely Gore
(1867–1955)
Alma mater University College, Oxford

James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, CB, PC (23 October 1861 – 4 April 1947), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1868 to 1903, was a British statesman.

Background and education

Born in London, Salisbury was the eldest son of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury,[1] who served as British Prime Minister, by his wife Georgina (née Alderson). The Right Reverend Lord William Cecil, Lord Cecil of Chelwood and Lord Quickswood were his younger brothers and Prime Minister Arthur Balfour his first cousin. He was educated at Eton and University College, Oxford, graduating BA in 1885.

Political career

He started public life early, being a very young age when he accompanied his father to the 1876-1877 Constantinople Conference and a year later to the Congress of Berlin.[2]

Lord Cranborne sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Darwen then called North-East Lancashire from 1885 to 1892.[2] He lost his seat at the General Election. In a by-election in 1893, he was elected for Rochester where he was the MP until 1903,[2] when he succeeded his father and was elevated to the House of Lords.

Lord Cranborne was colonel of the 4th (Militia) battalion Bedfordshire Regiment (formerly the Hertfordshire Militia), and was in command when the battalion served in South Africa February to November 1900, during the Second Boer War. He received the Queen's South Africa Medal and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) for his service during the war. In July 1902 he received the Honorary Freedom of the borough of Hertford in recognition of his service during the war.[3] He was also a colonel of the Hertfordshire Volunteer Regiment and of the 4th battalion Essex Regiment. Lord Salisbury was ADC to Edward VII, and George V until 1929.

He served under his father and then his cousin Arthur Balfour as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1900[2] to 1903, under Balfour as Lord Privy Seal from 1903 to 1905, and as Lord President of the Board of Trade in 1905.[4][5] In 1903 he was sworn of the Privy Council. In December 1908, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Hertfordshire.[6] And from 1906, followed his uncle, as Chairman of the Canterbury House of Laymen.

Salisbury played a leading role in opposing David Lloyd George's People's Budget and the Parliament Bill of 1911. In 1917 he was made a Knight of the Garter. He returned to the government in the 1920s and served under Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1922 to 1923, as Lord President of the Council from 1922 to 1924, as Lord Privy Seal from 1924 to 1929 and as Leader of the House of Lords from 1925 to 1929[2] in successive Conservative governments of Bonar Law and Baldwin. He resigned as leader of the Conservative peers in June 1931[7] and became one of the most prominent opponents of Indian Home Rule in the Lords, supporting the campaign against the legislation waged in the House of Commons by Winston Churchill.

Lord Salisbury was a committed and eager member of the Territorial Army. Honorary Colonel of 86th East Anglians, and the Hertfordshire Yeomanry Brigade. He was also Honorary Colonel of Royal Field Artillery in the Territorial Detachment and the 48th South Midland Division Royal Engineers (TA).

Salisbury was part of two parliamentary deputations which called on the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Neville Chamberlain, in the autumn of 1936 to remonstrate with them about the slow pace of British rearmament in the face of the growing threat from Nazi Germany. The delegation was led by Sir Austen Chamberlain, a former Foreign Secretary and its most prominent speakers included Winston Churchill, Leo Amery and Roger Keyes. The Marquess of Salisbury was Lord High Steward at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937.[8]

Styles of address

Marriage and children

Lord Salisbury married Lady Cicely Alice Gore (born 15 July 1867, died 5 February 1955), second daughter of Arthur Gore, 5th Earl of Arran, on 17 May 1887 at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster.[1] She was appointed a JP for Hertfordshire. In 1907, she was made a Lady Bedchamber to Queen Alexandra, an Officer of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

They had four children:[9]

Lord Salisbury died in April 1947, at 85, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert. The Marchioness of Salisbury died in February 1955.[10]

He was the grandfather of actor Jonathan Cecil by his youngest son, David.

Ancestry

References

  1. 1 2 "Marriage of Viscount Cranborne". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. British Newspaper Archive. 18 May 1887. Retrieved 21 March 2016. (subscription required (help)).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "MARQUESS OF SALISBURY DEATH OF GREAT FIGURE". Western Morning News. British Newspaper Archive. 5 April 1947. Retrieved 28 March 2016. (subscription required (help)).
  3. ↑ "Court Circular". The Times (36812). London. 5 July 1902. p. 8.
  4. ↑ "THE PEER PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE.". Western Times. British Newspaper Archive. 15 March 1905. Retrieved 28 March 2016. (subscription required (help)).
  5. ↑ "THE NEW MINISTRY AND THE OLD". Stamford Mercury. British Newspaper Archive. 29 December 1905. Retrieved 28 March 2016. (subscription required (help)).
  6. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 28211. p. 33. 1 January 1909.
  7. ↑ "LORD SALISBURY RETIRES FROM LEADERSHIP". Western Daily Press. British Newspaper Archive. 17 June 1931. Retrieved 21 March 2016. (subscription required (help)).
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 34453. p. 7051. 10 November 1937. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  9. ↑ The Peerage, entry for 4th Marquess of Salisbury
  10. ↑ Burke's Peerage & Baronetage (106th ed.) (Salisbury)
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Darwen
1885 – 1892 		Succeeded by
Charles Philip Huntington
Preceded by
Horatio Davies		 Member of Parliament for Rochester
1893 – 1903 		Succeeded by
Charles Tuff
Political offices
Preceded by
Hon. St John Brodrick		 Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
1900–1903 		Succeeded by
Earl Percy
Preceded by
Arthur Balfour		 Lord Privy Seal
1903–1905 		Succeeded by
The Marquess of Ripon
Preceded by
Gerald Balfour		 President of the Board of Trade
1905 		Succeeded by
David Lloyd George
Preceded by
Sir William Sutherland		 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1922–1923 		Succeeded by
John Davidson
Preceded by
Arthur Balfour		 Lord President of the Council
1922–1924 		Succeeded by
The Lord Parmoor
Preceded by
John Robert Clynes		 Lord Privy Seal
1924–1929 		Succeeded by
James Henry Thomas
Preceded by
The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston		 Leader of the House of Lords
1925–1929 		Succeeded by
The Lord Parmoor
Party political offices
Preceded by
The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston		 Leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords
1925–1931 		Succeeded by
The Viscount Hailsham
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil		 Marquess of Salisbury
1903–1947 		Succeeded by
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil		 Baron Cecil
(descended by acceleration)
1903–1941 		Succeeded by
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
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