Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

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The Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
In office
23 June 1885 –  28 January 1886
Monarch Victoria
Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone
Succeeded by William Ewart Gladstone
In office
25 July 1886 –  11 August 1892
Monarch Victoria
Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone
Succeeded by William Ewart Gladstone
In office
25 June 1895 –  11 July 1902
Monarch Victoria
Edward VII
Preceded by The Earl of Rosebery
Succeeded by Arthur Balfour
Born 3 February 1830
Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England
Died 22 August 1903 (age 73)
Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford

Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC ( 3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), known as Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and as Viscount Cranborne from 1865 until 1868, was a British statesman and Prime Minister on three occasions, for a total of over 13 years. He was the first British Prime Minister of the 20th century.

Life

Lord Robert Cecil was the second son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. After an unhappy childhood, in which he was sent to Eton College, he went up to Christ Church, Oxford, and on taking his degree was elected a Fellow of All Souls College. He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative in 1853.

In 1857, Cecil married Georgina Alderson, a woman of lower social standing, over the objections of his father. The marriage proved a happy one and bore him five sons and two daughters. In 1866 Cecil, now Viscount Cranborne after the death of his older brother, entered the third government of Lord Derby as Secretary of State for India, but resigned the next year over the Reform Bill, which he opposed.

In 1868, on the death of his father, he inherited the Marquessate of Salisbury, thereby becoming a member of the House of Lords. From 1868 and 1871, he was chairman of the Great Eastern Railway, which was then experiencing losses. During his tenure, the company was taken out of chancery, and paid out a small dividend on its ordinary shares.

He returned to government in 1874, serving once again as India Secretary in the government of Benjamin Disraeli. Salisbury gradually developed a good relationship with Disraeli, whom he had previously disliked and distrusted. In 1878, Salisbury succeeded Lord Derby (son of the former Prime Minister) as Foreign Secretary in time to help lead Britain to "peace with honour" at the Congress of Berlin. For this he was rewarded with the Order of the Garter.

Following Disraeli's death in 1881, the Conservatives entered a period of turmoil. Salisbury became the leader of the Conservative members of the House of Lords, though the overall leadership of the party was not formally allocated. So he struggled with the Commons leader Sir Stafford Northcote, a struggle in which Salisbury eventually emerged as the leading figure. He became Prime Minister of a minority administration from 1885 to 1886. Although unable to accomplish much due to his lack of a parliamentary majority, the split of the Liberals over Irish Home Rule in 1886 enabled him to return to power with a majority, and, with a short break (1892–1895) to serve as Prime Minister from 1886 to 1902.

In 1889 Salisbury set up the London County Council and then in 1890 allowed it to build houses. However he came to regret this, saying in November 1894 that the LCC, "is the place where collectivist and socialistic experiments are tried. It is the place where a new revolutionary spirit finds its instruments and collects its arms".

Also in 1889 Salisbury's Government passed the Naval Defence Act 1889 which facilitated the spending of an extra £20 million on the Royal Navy over the following four years. This was the biggest ever expansion of the navy in peacetime: ten new battleships, thirty-eight new cruisers, eighteen new torpedo boats and four new fast gunboats. Traditionally (since the Battle of Trafalgar) Britain had possessed a navy one-third larger than their nearest naval rival but now the Royal Navy was set to the Two-Power Standard; that it would be maintained "to a standard of strength equivalent to that of the combined forces of the next two biggest navies in the world". This was aimed at France and Russia.

Salisbury's expertise was in foreign affairs; for most of his time as Prime Minister he served not as First Lord of the Treasury, the traditional position held by the Prime Minister, but as Foreign Secretary. In that capacity, he skilfully managed Britain's foreign affairs, famously pursuing a policy of " Splendid Isolation". Among the important events of his premierships was the Partition of Africa, culminating in the Fashoda Crisis and the Second Boer War. While at home he sought to "fight Home Rule with kindness" by launching a land reform programme which helped hundreds of thousands of Irish peasants gain land ownership.

On 11 July 1902, in failing health and broken hearted over the death of his wife, Salisbury resigned. He was succeeded by his nephew, Arthur James Balfour. Salisbury was twice offered a dukedom by Queen Victoria in 1886 and 1892, but declined both offers, citing the prohibitive cost of the lifestyle dukes were expected to maintain.

When Salisbury died his estate was probated at 310,336 pounds sterling. In 1900 Salisbury was worth £6.56 million, about £374 million in 2005.

Legacy

Salisbury is seen as an icon of traditional, aristocratic conservatism. The academic quarterly Salisbury Review was named in his honour upon its founding in 1982.

Clement Attlee (Prime Minister, 1945-1951) believed Salisbury to be the best Prime Minister of his lifetime.

Family

Lord Salisbury
Lord Salisbury

Salisbury was the third son of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, a minor Tory politician. He went against his father's wishes and married Georgina Alderson, the daughter of Sir Edward Alderson, a moderately notable jurist. Robert and Georgina had eight children, all but one of whom survived infancy.

  • Lady Beatrix Maud Gascoyne-Cecil († 27 April 1950), married William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne
  • Lady Gwendolen (Gascoyne-)Cecil († 28 September 1945), author, and biographer of her father; she never married.
  • Lady Fanny Georgina Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil († 24 April 1867), died as infant
  • James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury ( 23 October 1861– 4 April 1947)
  • Lord (Rupert Ernest) William (Gascoyne-)Cecil ( 9 March 1863– 23 June 1936)
  • (Edgar Algernon) Robert (Gascoyne-)Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood ( 14 September 1864– 24 November 1958)
  • Lord Edward (Gascoyne-)Cecil ( 12 July 1867– 13 December 1918)
  • Hugh Richard Heathcote (Gascoyne-)Cecil, 1st Baron Quickswood ( 14 October 1869– 10 December 1956)

Lord Salisbury's First Government, July 1885–February 1886

Image:Robert-Gascoyne-Cecil-arms.PNG
Arms of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
  • Lord Salisbury – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Lords
  • Lord Iddesleigh – First Lord of the Treasury
  • Lord Halsbury – Lord Chancellor
  • Lord Cranbrook – Lord President of the Council
  • Lord Harrowby – Lord Privy Seal
  • Sir Richard Cross – Secretary of State for the Home Department
  • Sir Frederick Stanley – Secretary of State for the Colonies
  • William Henry Smith – Secretary of State for War
  • Lord Randolph Churchill – Secretary of State for India
  • Lord George Hamilton – First Lord of the Admiralty
  • Sir Michael Hicks Beach – Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons
  • The Duke of Richmond – President of the Board of Trade
  • Lord John Manners – Postmaster-General
  • Lord Carnarvon – Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
  • Lord Ashbourne – Lord Chancellor of Ireland
  • Edward Stanhope – Vice President of the Council

Changes

  • August 1885 – The Duke of Richmond becomes Secretary for Scotland. Edward Stanhope succeeds him at the Board of Trade. Stanhope's successor as Vice President of the Council is not in the Cabinet.
  • January, 1886 – The Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland is put into commission. William Henry Smith becomes Chief Secretary for Ireland. Lord Cranbrook succeeds him as Secretary for War, while remaining Lord President.

Lord Salisbury's Second Government, August 1886–August 1892

  • Lord Salisbury – First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Lords
  • Lord Halsbury – Lord Chancellor
  • Lord Cranbrook – Lord President of the Council
  • Lord Cadogan – Lord Privy Seal
  • Henry Matthews – Secretary of State for the Home Department
  • Lord Iddesleigh – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
  • Edward Stanhope – Secretary of State for the Colonies
  • William Henry Smith – Secretary of State for War
  • Lord Cross – Secretary of State for India
  • Lord George Hamilton – First Lord of the Admiralty
  • Lord Randolph Churchill – Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons
  • Lord Stanley of Preston – President of the Board of Trade
  • Lord John Manners – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  • Sir Michael Hicks Beach – Chief Secretary for Ireland
  • Arthur James Balfour – Secretary for Scotland

Cabinet after the reorganization of January 1887

  • Lord Salisbury – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Lords
  • William Henry Smith – First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons
  • Lord Halsbury – Lord Chancellor
  • Lord Cranbrook – Lord President of the Council
  • Lord Cadogan – Lord Privy Seal
  • Henry Matthews – Secretary of State for the Home Department
  • Sir Henry Holland – Secretary of State for the Colonies
  • Edward Stanhope – Secretary of State for War
  • Lord Cross – Secretary of State for India
  • Lord George Hamilton – First Lord of the Admiralty
  • George Goschen – Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • Lord Stanley of Preston – President of the Board of Trade
  • Lord John Manners – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  • Arthur James Balfour – Chief Secretary for Ireland
  • Charles Thomson Ritchie – President of the Local Government Board
  • Sir Michael Hicks Beach – Minister without Portfolio

Further Changes

  • February 1888 – Sir Michael Hicks Beach succeeds Lord Stanley of Preston as President of the Board of Trade
  • 1889 – Henry Chaplin enters the Cabinet as President of the Board of Agriculture.
  • October 1891 – Arthur James Balfour succeeds William Henry Smith (deceased) as First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons. William Lawies Jackson succeeds him as Irish Secretary.

Lord Salisbury's Third Government, June 1895–July 1902

  • Lord Salisbury – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Lords
  • Arthur James Balfour – First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons
  • Lord Halsbury – Lord Chancellor
  • The Duke of Devonshire – Lord President of the Council
  • Lord Cross – Lord Privy Seal
  • Sir Matthew White Ridley – Secretary of State for the Home Department
  • Joseph Chamberlain – Secretary of State for the Colonies
  • Lord Lansdowne – Secretary of State for War
  • Lord George Hamilton – Secretary of State for India
  • George Joachim Goschen – First Lord of the Admiralty
  • Sir Michael Hicks Beach – Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • Charles Thomson Ritchie – President of the Board of Trade
  • Henry Chaplin – President of the Local Government Board
  • Lord James of Hereford – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  • Aretas Akers-Douglas – First Commissioner of Works
  • Lord Cadogan – Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
  • Lord Ashbourne – Lord Chancellor of Ireland
  • Lord Balfour of Burleigh – Secretary for Scotland
  • Walter Hume Long – President of the Board of Agriculture

Changes

November 1900 – Complete reorganization of the ministry:

  • Lord Salisbury – Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords
  • Arthur James Balfour – First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons
  • Lord Halsbury – Lord Chancellor
  • The Duke of Devonshire – Lord President of the Council
  • Charles Thomson Ritchie – Secretary of State for the Home Department
  • Lord Lansdowne – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
  • Joseph Chamberlain – Secretary of State for the Colonies
  • William St John Brodrick – Secretary of State for War
  • Lord George Hamilton – Secretary of State for India
  • Lord Selborne – First Lord of the Admiralty
  • Sir Michael Hicks Beach – Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • Gerald William Balfour – President of the Board of Trade
  • Walter Hume Long – President of the Local Government Board
  • Lord James of Hereford – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  • Aretas Akers-Douglas – First Commissioner of Works
  • Lord Cadogan – Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
  • Lord Ashbourne – Lord Chancellor of Ireland
  • Lord Balfour of Burleigh – Secretary for Scotland
  • Robert William Hanbury – President of the Board of Agriculture
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