Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury
| The Most Honourable The Marquess of Salisbury KG PC |
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 Major General H. D. Wynter (right) with the Dominions Secretary, Lord Cranborne (left) |
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| In office 25 November 1952 – 29 March 1957 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill Anthony Eden |
| Preceded by | The Lord Woolton |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Home |
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| In office 21 February 1942 – 26 July 1945 |
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| Monarch | George VI |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by | The Lord Moyne |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Addison |
| In office 28 October 1951 – 29 March 1957 |
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| Monarch | George VI Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Winston Churchill Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Addison |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Home |
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| Born | 27 August 1893 |
| Died | 23 February 1972 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Cavendish (1897-1982) |
Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury, KG, PC (27 August 1893 – 23 February 1972), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1903 to 1947, was a British Conservative politician.
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[edit] Background
Nicknamed "Bobbety", Salisbury was the eldest son of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury, by his wife Lady Cicely, daughter of Arthur Gore, 5th Earl of Arran. He was the grandson of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.
[edit] Political career
Salisbury was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dorset in 1929, and served as Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1935 to 1938, as Paymaster-General in 1940 and as Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs from 1940 to 1942. In 1941 he was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Cecil. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1942, Lord Privy Seal between 1942 and 1943, Leader of the House of Lords between 1942 and 1945 and again Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs between 1943 and 1945. In 1947 he succeeded his father in the marquessate.
During the 1950s he held office under successively Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, and Harold Macmillan as Lord Privy Seal from 1951 to 1952, Leader of the House of Lords from 1951 to 1957, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations in 1952 and Lord President of the Council from 1952 to 1957.
In January 1957, Eden resigned as prime minister, and did not give advice to Queen Elizabeth II as to who should succeed him. The two candidates were Rab Butler and Harold Macmillan. The Queen took advice from senior Ministers, as well as Winston Churchill (who backed Macmillan), Edward Heath (who as Chief Whip was aware of backbench opinion) and from Salisbury, who interviewed the Cabinet one by one and with his famous speech impediment asked each one whether he was for "Wab or Hawold" (it is thought that only between one and three were for "Wab"). The advice was overwhelmingly to appoint Macmillan as Prime Minister instead of Butler. The media were taken by surprise by this choice, but Butler himself later confessed in his memoirs that while there was a sizeable anti-Butler faction on the backbenches, there was no such anti-Macmillan faction.
Salisbury was known as a hardline imperialist. In 1952, as Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, he tried to make permanent the exile of Seretse Khama, kgosi of the Bamangwato people in Bechuanaland, for marrying a white British woman. During the 1960s, Lord Salisbury continued to be a staunch defender of the white-dominated governments in South Africa and in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He was also a fierce opponent of liberal-left attempts to reform the House of Lords, yet he created what is known as the Salisbury Convention, whereby the House of Lords will not oppose the second or third reading of any government legislation promised in its election manifesto. In 1961 he became the first president of the Conservative Monday Club, a post he held until his death.
[edit] Other public appointments
Apart from his political career Salisbury was Chancellor of the University of Liverpool from 1951 until 1971. In 1970, students at the university staged an occupation at Senate House to demand his removal, over his support for apartheid and similarly reactionary views. He was also Chancellor of the Order of the Garter between 1960 and 1972.
[edit] Family
Lord Salisbury married Elizabeth Vere Cavendish, daughter of Lord Richard Cavendish, in 1951. They had three sons. The second son, the Hon. Michael Charles James Cecil (1918-1934) died as an adolescent while the third son the Hon. Richard Hugh Cecil (1924-1944) was killed in the Second World War.
Lord Salisbury died in February 1972, aged 78, and was succeeded by his eldest and only surviving son, Robert. Lady Salisbury died in 1982.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Viscount Cranborne
- Portraits of Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Archival material relating to Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury listed at the UK National Register of Archives
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