My wife's ancestors - Cecil - Contents

1st Baron Burghley

• Sources yet to be consulted:
  • The Great Lord Burghley, Martin Hume, London, 1906.
  • Mr. Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth, Conyers Read, 1955, 1962 (Jonathan Cape, London, Bedford Historical Series).
  • Burghley: Tudor Statesman, B.W. Beckingsale, London, 1967.

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley.
Portrait by an unknown artist. He wears his robes of a Knight of the Garter.
At [NPG]. See here.
From Wikimedia Commons. See dispute over public domain status.
There are a number of versions/copies of this portrait.
See wider portrait from Tudor Place.

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (see here and here),
born 18th Sept 1520,
for 40 years chief secretary of state to Elizabeth I, and the "chief architect of Elizabethan greatness",
educ St.John's College, Cambridge,
mar 1stly to Mary Cheke and had issue:

1. Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter (see here), born 1542,
   inherited Burghley House,
   ancestor of Marquess of Exeter.

mar 2ndly to Mildred Cooke [born 1526, descendant of King John],
Chancellor of University of Cambridge 1560,
cr Baron 1571, K.G.,
built London town house, Cecil House (or Burghley House), The Strand, London (now gone),
built country seat at Burghley House, nr Stamford, Lincolnshire, 1587,
Mildred died 1589, age 63 yrs, bur with her dau Anne at Westminster Abbey,
he died 4th Aug 1598, age 77 yrs,
bur St. Martin's church, Stamford, Lincolnshire,
see Portraits of 1st Baron Burghley,
had issue by 2nd wife:

1. Anne Cecil (see here), born 5th Dec 1556,
   mar Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford and had issue.

   
   

2. Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury (see here), born 1563,
   succ to his father's job as Elizabeth's chief minister,
   in later years of Elizabeth's reign, he developed contacts with James VI, King of Scotland, which led to James succeeding Elizabeth in 1603,
   John Aubrey says he was a lover of Lady Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke [his niece Susan de Vere would marry her son the 4th Earl of Pembroke in 1604],
   cr Viscount Cranborne (NOT Cranbourne) 1604,
   cr Earl of Salisbury 1605,
   built Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, from 1608,
   died 1612, ancestor of Marquess of Salisbury.

Tomb of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Stamford, Lincolnshire.
Picture credit Tudor Place.

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Exeter

• Earls and Marquesses of Exeter

• Henry Cecil, 1st Marquess of Exeter is immortalised in The Lord of Burleigh by Tennyson.

• The aristocratic hurdler in the movie Chariots of Fire (1981) is loosely based on David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, Olympic gold medallist.

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Salisbury

• Earls and Marquesses of Salisbury

• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (see here),
  Prime Minister 1885-6, 1886-92, and 1895-1902,
  leading British Empire builder,
  opponent of Home Rule for Ireland (in the time of Parnell).
  Named after him:
  • Salisbury (now Harare), capital of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
  • Hatfield, a suburb of SC Salisbury.
  • Cranborne, a suburb of SC Salisbury.
  • The phrase "Bob's your uncle".

• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury (see here), born 1946,
  descendant of Charles II through Cavendish and Beauclerk,
  Tory leader of the House of Lords 1990s (as Viscount Cranborne),
  prominent English supporter of Ulster unionism,
  has Irish blood himself through his mother from Wyndham-Quin,
  succ as Marquess 2003.