James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury

James Cecil (right) with his sister Catherine, 1669

James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury (baptized September 25, 1666 - October 24, 1694 ) was an English politician and peer .

Life

He was one of ten children of James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury from his marriage to Lady Margaret Manners, daughter of John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland . He was at St John's College of Cambridge University trained. When his father died in May 1683, he followed as the eldest surviving son, 4th Earl of Salisbury and 4th Viscount Cranborne . He also inherited the office of Hertford High Steward from his father .

On July 13, 1683, at the age of 16, he married the only 12-year-old Frances Bennett (1670-1713), daughter and partial heir of the late Simon Bennet, lord of Beechampton in Buckingham and Witley Park in Surrey .

After his marriage in 1683 he went on a grand tour to continental Europe and did not return to England until 1688. In the same year he became gentleman of the bedchamber of King James II and converted to the Roman Catholic Church . When the Glorious Revolution broke out , from October 1688, he served as a colonel in a cavalry regiment on the side of Jacob II. He was captured in January 1689 and eventually imprisoned in the Tower of London . On October 26, 1689, the House of Commons charged him and Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough , with high treason , more precisely because of "turning away from loyalty and reconciliation with the Church of Rome". The House of Lords was responsible for such charges against peers and on the same day ordered the defendants to be questioned before the House of Lords. When he was brought before the House of Lords on October 28, 1689, he responded to the charge:

"I went abroad young and was seven years out, and did not return a year before I was committed. As for my religion, when I come to defend it, I will defend myself as well as I can: I hope this honorable house doth not expect I should accuse myself. "

“I went abroad young, had been away for seven years and came back less than a year before I was enlisted [in the army]. For my religion I will defend myself as best I can: I hope this honorable house does not expect me to blame myself. "

The Lords thereupon ordered the relief that Cecil could be visited by his wife, friends and servants in the Tower. He remained detained in the Tower without any further trial. After he was detained 21 months without there had been a conviction, he asked the House of Lords on October 2, 1690 a petition for his pardon. On October 30, 1690, the Lords determined that a general pardon, recently issued by the Crown, also applied to the Earls of Salisbury and Petersborough, and released both of them without having been a member of the House of Commons.

Simon Bennet, Cecil's late father-in-law, had bequeathed £ 20,000 to each of his three daughters if they marry with the consent of named persons and after the age of 16. Since Frances would marry before her 16th birthday with the consent of the named persons, she was initially paid only £ 10,000. After his release from prison, Cecil took his wife's inheritance case to the High Court of Chancery . The court ruled in his favor on May 1, 1691 and his wife was paid an additional £ 10,000, for a total of £ 20,000.

Cecil died on October 24, 1694 at the age of 28. His title of nobility then fell to his only child, the only four-year-old James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1691-1728).

Web links

James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury on thepeerage.com

Individual evidence

↑ James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury . In: John Venn , John Archibald Venn (eds.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. 10 volumes, 1922-1958. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk ).
^ ^A ^b Charles Mosley (Ed.): Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage . Volume 3, Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, Wilmington 2003, ISBN 978-0-9711966-2-9 , p. 3504.
↑ Parishes. Witley. In: HE Malden (Ed.): A History of the County of Surrey. Volume 3, Victoria County History, London 1911, pp. 61–49 ( British History Online )
↑ Lewis Turnor: History of the Ancient Town and Borough of Hertford . St. Austin & Sons, Hertford 1830, p. 120 ( google.com [accessed May 27, 2020]).
^ Salisbury, Earl of (E, 1605) at Cracroft's Peerage
↑ Thomas Bayly Howell: A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors from the Earliest Period to the Year 1783 . TC Hansard, 1816, Sp. 1233-1236 ( google.com ).
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d ^e Thomas Jones Howell, William Cobbett , David Jardine: A complete collection of state trials and proceedings for high treason. Volume 12, London 1816, columns 1233-1236
↑ Martin John West, Philip Yorke Earl of Hardwicke: Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery: From 1736 to July, 1739, from the Original Manuscripts of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke and the Contemporaneous Reports, Compared with and Corrected by Lord Hardwicke's Notes . Joseph Butterworth and Son, London 1827, p. 373–374 ( google.com [accessed May 27, 2020]).

predecessor	Office	successor
James Cecil	Earl of Salisbury 1683-1694	James Cecil

personal data
SURNAME	Cecil, James, 4th Earl of Salisbury
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English politician and peer
DATE OF BIRTH	baptized September 25, 1666
DATE OF DEATH	October 24, 1694

[1] James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury . In: John Venn , John Archibald Venn (eds.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. 10 volumes, 1922-1958. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk ).

[BP-2] A ^b Charles Mosley (Ed.): Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage . Volume 3, Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, Wilmington 2003, ISBN 978-0-9711966-2-9 , p. 3504.

[3] Parishes. Witley. In: HE Malden (Ed.): A History of the County of Surrey. Volume 3, Victoria County History, London 1911, pp. 61–49 ( British History Online )

[4] Lewis Turnor: History of the Ancient Town and Borough of Hertford . St. Austin & Sons, Hertford 1830, p. 120 ( google.com [accessed May 27, 2020]).

[5] Salisbury, Earl of (E, 1605) at Cracroft's Peerage

[6] Thomas Bayly Howell: A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors from the Earliest Period to the Year 1783 . TC Hansard, 1816, Sp. 1233-1236 ( google.com ).

[statetrials-7] A ^b ^c ^d ^e Thomas Jones Howell, William Cobbett , David Jardine: A complete collection of state trials and proceedings for high treason. Volume 12, London 1816, columns 1233-1236

[8] Martin John West, Philip Yorke Earl of Hardwicke: Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery: From 1736 to July, 1739, from the Original Manuscripts of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke and the Contemporaneous Reports, Compared with and Corrected by Lord Hardwicke's Notes . Joseph Butterworth and Son, London 1827, p. 373–374 ( google.com [accessed May 27, 2020]).