William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter

Coat of arms of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter

William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter ( 1566 - July 6, 1640 ) was an English politician and peer .

Life

He was the eldest surviving son of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter , from his first marriage to Dorothy Neville, daughter of John Nevill, 4th Baron Latymer . As apparent marriage of his father, he carried the courtesy title of Lord Burghley from 1605 . He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge . Before joining the Gray's Inn Bar Association, he toured Europe.

In 1586, at the age of 20, he was elected to the House of Commons as Burgess for Stamford and re-elected in 1589. In 1597 he was elected Knight of the Shire for Rutland . In 1603 he was promoted to Knight Bachelor .

At the death of his father in 1623 he inherited his title of nobility as 2nd Earl of Exeter and 3rd Baron Burghley and took over his office as Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire . In 1625 he became Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter and in 1626 a member of the Privy Council .

In 1589, he married Elizabeth Manners, the only child of Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland . Their only child was:

William Cecil's second daughter, Elizabeth Cecil

Elizabeth died in 1591 and William married Elizabeth Drury, daughter of Sir William Drury and Elizabeth Stafford. They had three daughters:

Lady Anne Cecil ⚭ Henry Gray, 1st Earl of Stamford ;
Lady Elizabeth Cecil († 1672) ⚭ Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire ;
Lady Diana Cecil († 1658), ⚭ (1) Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford , ⚭ (2) Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin .

Since his only son had died childless in 1618, his nephew David Cecil inherited his title of nobility in 1640.

^ William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter . 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 ).
^ History of Parliament . Retrieved September 27, 2011.
^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 2, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 100.
^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 31.

predecessor	Office	successor
Thomas Cecil	Earl of Exeter 1623-1640	David Cecil

personal data
SURNAME	Cecil, William, 2nd Earl of Exeter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Cecil, William, Lord Burghley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English politician and peer
DATE OF BIRTH	1566
DATE OF DEATH	July 6, 1640