James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury

Portrait of James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury, 1796, by Daniel Orme

Coat of arms of James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury

James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury , KG PC (born September 4, 1748 in London , † June 13, 1823 ibid) was a British politician and peer .

Origin and education

He was the only son of James Cecil, 6th Earl of Salisbury from his marriage to Elizabeth Keet. As his father's apparent marriage , he carried the courtesy title Viscount Cranborne until 1780 .

He attended Eton College and graduated as Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) in 1773 .

Career

Lord Salisbury (in the foreground) with George III. and Sophie Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz , caricature 1795

From 1771 to 1823 he held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire . From 1773 to 1815 he was Colonel in the Hertfordshire Militia .

From 1774 to 1780 he was a member of the House of Commons as an MP for the constituency of Great Bedwyn . A few days after he was re-elected for the constituency of Launceston in 1780 , his father died, so that he inherited the title of 7th Earl of Salisbury , thereby rising to the House of Lords and leaving the House of Commons.

In the government of Lord North he was Treasurer of the Household between 1780 and 1782 . In 1780 he became a member of the Privy Council . From 1783 to 1804 he was in the governments of William Pitt the Younger and Henry Addington Lord Chamberlain of the Household . In 1789 he was raised to Marquess of Salisbury , in the County of Wilts . In 1793 he was accepted into the Order of the Garter as a Knight Companion . In 1816 he became Joint Postmaster General in the government of Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool . He held the office until his death in 1823.

Marriage and offspring

On December 2, 1773, he married Lady Emily Mary, daughter of Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire . She became known as an athlete and influential hostess. They had four children:

• Lady Georgiana Charlotte Augusta Cecil († 1860), ⚭ Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley ;
• Lady Emily Anne Bennet Elizabeth Cecil († 1858), ⚭ George Nugent, 1st Marquess of Westmeath ;
• Caroline Cecil, died young;
• James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury (1791–1868).

Lord Salisbury died in June 1823 and his only son James followed him. His wife died in a fire at Hatfield House in November 1835 .

literature

• The Gentleman's Magazine : and Historical Chronicle From January To June 1823. Volume 93, John Nichols and Son, London 1823. Obituary Section, p. 563 ( Google Books ).

Web links

• James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury on thepeerage.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 12122, HMSO, London, September 26, 1780, p. 1 ( PDF , English).
2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 13123, HMSO, London, August 15, 1789, p. 550 ( PDF , English).
3. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 49.
4. ↑ Lady Emily Mary Hill on thepeerage.com

predecessor	Office	successor
James Cecil	Earl of Salisbury 1780-1823	James Gascoyne-Cecil
New title created	Marquess of Salisbury 1789-1823	James Gascoyne-Cecil