by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the reign of Queen Victoria three times: 1885 – 1886, 1886 – 1892 and 1895 – 1902. Born on February 3, 1830 at Hatfield House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, he was the third of the four sons and the fifth of the six children of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury and his first wife Frances Mary Gascoyne, daughter of Bamber Gascoyne, Member of Parliament for Liverpool from 1780 to 1796. Salisbury had two older brothers. James Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, a historian and the heir to their father until he died unmarried at the age of 43 and Lord Arthur who had died in early childhood. Upon his father’s death in 1868, Salisbury succeeded him as the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.
Salisbury had five siblings:
- James Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne (1821 – 1865), died unmarried
- Lady Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil (1822 – 1881), married Alexander Beresford Hope, had three sons and seven daughters
- Lord Arthur Gascoyne-Cecil (1823 – 1825), died in early childhood
- Lady Blanche Gascoyne-Cecil (1825 – 1872), married James Maitland Balfour, had five sons and three daughters including Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Eustace Gascoyne-Cecil (1834 – 1921), married Lady Gertrude Scott, daughter of John Scott, 2nd Earl of Eldon, had two sons and one daughter
Salisbury had five half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Lady Mary Catherine Sackville-West, daughter of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr.
- Lord Sackville Cecil (1848 – 1898), died unmarried
- Lady Arabella Cecil (1850 – 1903), married Alan Stewart, 10th Earl of Galloway, no children
- Lady Margaret Elizabeth Cecil (1850 – 1919), died unmarried
- Lord Arthur Cecil (1851 – 1913), married (1) Elizabeth Ann Wilson, had two sons; (2) Frederica von Klenck
- Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Lionel Cecil (1853 – 1901), died unmarried
Salisbury was a male-line descendant of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, and his son Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who succeeded his father as the advisor of Queen Elizabeth I and served in the same capacity during the early years of King James I’s reign. Hatfield House, Salisbury’s birthplace, built by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, has been the home of the Cecil family ever since.
After attending a preparatory school near Hatfield, ten-year-old Salisbury went to Eton College where he was unmercifully bullied. With the permission of his father, Salisbury withdrew from Eton when he was fifteen years old and was then educated by a tutor at his family home, Hatfield House. Memories of the bullying, remained with him his whole life and had a profound effect upon his personality. In January 1848, Salisbury enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford and majored in mathematics. He joined the Oxford Union, a debating society, where he developed a bitter and ironic debating technique he later used in Parliament. While at Oxford, Salisbury was ill and depressed, perhaps an effect of the bullying, left early, and received an honorary fourth class in mathematics conferred by nobleman’s privilege due to ill health. After leaving Oxford, Salisbury spent some time traveling and recovering his health, and observing the situations in the British colonies of Cape Colony, Australia, and New Zealand.
In 1853, Salisbury won an election and became a Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Stamford in Lincolnshire. He retained this seat until he succeeded his father as 3rd Marquess of Salisbury and as a peer, had to move to the House of Lords.
Salisbury’s father wanted him to marry a rich heiress but instead, in 1857, he married Georgina Alderson, daughter of Sir Edward Alderson, a judge and of lower social status than the Cecils. Because of his marriage, Salisbury was cut off from the Cecil family’s money and had to support his family through journalism. However, he later reconciled with his father.
Salisbury and his wife had eight children:
- Lady Maud Gascoyne-Cecil, women’s rights activist (1858 – 1950), married William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, had four sons
- Lady Gwendolen Gascoyne-Cecil, author and biographer of her father, (1860 – 1945), unmarried
- James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury (1861 – 1947), married Lady Cicely Gore, daughter of Arthur Gore, 5th Earl of Arran, had seven children
- Lord William Gascoyne-Cecil, Bishop of Exeter (1863 – 1936), married Lady Florence Bootle-Wilbraham, daughter of Edward Bootle-Wilbraham, 1st Earl of Lathom, had four sons and three daughters
- Lord Robert Gascoyne-Cecil 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, one of the architects of the League of Nations, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937 (1864 – 1958), married Lady Eleanor Lambton, daughter of George Frederick D’Arcy Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham
- Lady Fanny Gascoyne-Cecil (1865 – 1867), died in early childhood
- Lord Edward Gascoyne- Cecil, died during the 1918 flu epidemic (1867 – 1918), married Violet Maxse, had two children
- Lord Hugh Heathcote Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Baron Quickswood (1869 – 1956), unmarried
Salisbury served in a number of Conservative Cabinets: Secretary of State for India (1866 – 1867, 1874 – 1878), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1878 – 1880, 1885 – 1886, 1887 – 1892, 1895 – 1900). Three times when William Gladstone from the Liberal Party was Prime Minister, Salisbury served as Leader of the Opposition (1881 – 1885, January – July 1886, and 1892 – 1895).
Salisbury first became Prime Minister in June 1885 when William Gladstone’s Liberal government was unexpectedly defeated on a budget vote. Gladstone resigned as Prime Minister and Salisbury formed a minority Conservative government. Salisbury was Prime Minister when Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901. However, Salisbury was in failing health and did not last as Prime Minister much longer. On July 11, 1902, ill and still broken-hearted over the death of his wife who had died in late 1899, Salisbury retired and was succeeded by Arthur Balfour, his nephew, the son of his sister Blanche.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury died at the age of 73 at Hatfield House on August 22, 1903, a little more than one year after retiring. Salisbury, Queen Victoria’s last Prime Minister, was buried at St. Etheldreda’s Church in Hatfield, where William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s first Prime Minister, is also buried.
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Works Cited
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