James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury

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.


The Marquess of Salisbury

Leader of the House of Lords
In office
27 April 1925  4 June 1929
MonarchGeorge V
Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin
Preceded byThe Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
Succeeded byThe Lord Parmoor
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
In office
6 November 1924  4 June 1929
MonarchGeorge V
Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin
Preceded byJohn Robert Clynes
Succeeded byJames Henry Thomas
In office
17 October 1903  4 December 1905
MonarchEdward VII
Prime MinisterThe Marquess of Salisbury (his father)
Arthur Balfour
Preceded byArthur Balfour
Succeeded byThe Marquess of Ripon
Lord President of the Council
In office
24 October 1922  22 January 1924
MonarchGeorge V
Prime MinisterBonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
Preceded byArthur Balfour
Succeeded byThe Lord Parmoor
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office
24 October 1922  25 May 1923
MonarchGeorge V
Prime MinisterBonar Law
Stanley Baldwin
Preceded bySir William Sutherland
Succeeded byJ. C. C. Davidson
President of the Board of Trade
In office
12 March 1905  4 December 1905
MonarchEdward VII
Prime MinisterArthur Balfour
Preceded byGerald Balfour
Succeeded byDavid Lloyd George
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office
12 November 1900  9 October 1903
MonarchVictoria
Edward VII
Prime MinisterThe Marquess of Salisbury
Arthur Balfour
Preceded byThe Earl Midleton
Succeeded byThe Earl Percy
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
22 August 1903  4 April 1947
Hereditary peerage
Preceded byThe 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Succeeded byThe 5th Marquess of Salisbury
Member of Parliament
for Rochester
In office
8 February 1893  22 August 1903
Preceded byHoratio Davies
Succeeded byCharles Tuff
Member of Parliament
for Darwen
In office
18 December 1885  26 July 1892
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded bySir Charles Huntington
Personal details
Born(1861-10-23)23 October 1861
London, United Kingdom
Died4 April 1947(1947-04-04) (aged 85)
London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)Lady Cicely Gore
(1867–1955)
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford
Garter-encircled shield of arms of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury, KG, as displayed on his Order of the Garter stall plate in St. George's Chapel

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 of 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 of the latter year. He was elected for Rochester at a by-election in 1893, continuing as MP there until 1903,[2] when he succeeded his father and was elevated to the House of Lords.

Lord Cranborne was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 4th (Militia) battalion Bedfordshire Regiment (formerly the Hertfordshire Militia) on 29 October 1892, and was in command when the battalion saw active service in South Africa from March to November 1900, during the Second Boer War. The battalion, numbering 24 officers and 483 men, left Queenstown on 27 February in the transport Goorkha, with Lord Cranborne as the senior officer in command,[3] arriving in Cape Town the following month. 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.[4] Following the death of his father, he was promoted to colonel of the battalion. 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.[5][6] In 1903 he was sworn of the Privy Council. In December 1908, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Hertfordshire.[7] From 1906, following his uncle, he served 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 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[8] and became one of the most prominent opponents of Indian Home Rule in the Lords, supporting the campaign waged in the House of Commons by Winston Churchill against the Home Rule legislation.

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.[9]

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] Between 1907 and 1910 she served as a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Alexandra; additionally she was appointed an Officer of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, and as a Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire.

The couple had four children:

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. "Marriage of Viscount Cranborne". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. British Newspaper Archive. 18 May 1887. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  2. "MARQUESS OF SALISBURY DEATH OF GREAT FIGURE". Western Morning News. British Newspaper Archive. 5 April 1947. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  3. "The War - The Militia". The Times (36077). London. 28 February 1900. p. 6.
  4. "Court Circular". The Times (36812). London. 5 July 1902. p. 8.
  5. "THE PEER PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE". Western Times. British Newspaper Archive. 15 March 1905. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  6. "THE NEW MINISTRY AND THE OLD". Stamford Mercury. British Newspaper Archive. 29 December 1905. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  7. "No. 28211". The London Gazette. 1 January 1909. p. 33.
  8. "LORD SALISBURY RETIRES FROM LEADERSHIP". Western Daily Press. British Newspaper Archive. 17 June 1931. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  9. "No. 34453". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 November 1937. p. 7051.
  10. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage (106th ed.) (Salisbury)
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Darwen
18851892
Succeeded by
Charles Philip Huntington
Preceded by
Horatio Davies
Member of Parliament for Rochester
18931903
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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