James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury (1666–1694), until 1683 known by the

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

of Viscount Cranborne, was an English nobleman, politician, and peer. A

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official r ...

King James II James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

, during the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

of 1688 he commanded a regiment in support of the king. Afterwards, he was imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

for some twenty-two months, eventually being charged with

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. Although released in October 1690 following a general pardon, he died in 1694 at the age of twenty-eight.

Early life

Baptised on 25 September 1666, Salisbury was one of the ten children of

James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, (1648 – June 1683), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1660 to 1668, was an English nobleman and politician. Biography Salisbury was the son of Charles Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, the son of William Cecil ...

KG, by his marriage in 1661 to Lady Margaret Manners, a daughter of

John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland John Manners, 8th Earl of Rutland (10 June 160429 September 1679), was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited the title Earl of Rutland on the death of his second cousin George Manners, 7t ...

. He was educated at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, and as his father's eldest surviving son succeeded him when he died in May 1683.Charles Mosley, ed., ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition(2003), vol. 3, p. 3504 In 1656 Thomas Russell purchased half of

Witley Witley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England centred south west of the town of Godalming and southwest of Guildford. The land is a mixture of rural (ranging from woodland protected by the Surrey Hills AO ...

Park in Surrey for Cecil's father-in-law and a half share, therefore, passed on the marriage of each daughter, one of whom was Cecil's wife. On 13 July 1683, at the age of sixteen, the new

Earl of Salisbury Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury. Background The title was first created for Patrick de S ...

married Frances Bennett (1670–1713), a daughter of Simon Bennett, of

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. Bennett, who by the time of this marriage had died, had left three daughters, and in his

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

had left them each £20,000, subject to their not marrying before the age of sixteen or without the consent of those he named, with the proviso that the legacy of a daughter doing so was to be reduced to £10,000. Frances Bennett married Salisbury before she was sixteen, but with the consent of the Executors to the will, and this later led to litigation.Martin John West, Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke, (eds.), ''Reports of cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery'' (1827)
pp. 373–374, ''Earl of Salisbury v. Bennett''
/ref>

Career and imprisonment

Salisbury inherited from his father the position of Capital Steward of the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

. After his marriage, he travelled abroad for some years, returning to England at about the beginning of 1688. That year, he was appointed a

Gentleman of the Bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the royal household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household; the term being fir ...

and converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, but his appointment was overtaken by the

of October to December 1688, during which he served the king as

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

of a regiment of

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

. Salisbury was arrested in January 1688/89. On 26 October 1689 the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

impeached Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

him with the

Earl of Peterborough Earl of Peterborough was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for John Mordaunt, 5th Baron Mordaunt (see Baron Mordaunt for earlier history of the family). He was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry, the second Earl. He was ...

for

on the grounds of "departing from their allegiance and being reconciled to the Church of Rome" and asked the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

to commit them.

Thomas Jones Howell Thomas Jones Howell (died 1858), who edited the 'State Trials' (vols. xxii. 1815-xxxiii. 1826), was admitted of Lincoln's Inn on 9 November 1814 (Register). He sold Prinknash after 1842. He died at Eaton Place West, London, on 4 June 1858 (Gent. M ...

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...

, David Jardine, ''A complete collection of state trials and proceedings for high treason'', vol. 12
columns 1233–1236
/ref> On the same day the Lords ordered the two men to be brought to the bar of that House. Salisbury was already imprisoned in the

, and the Lords ordered that "his lady, friends and servants" were to have access to him. Brought to the House on 28 October, in reply to the charge Salisbury said: Salisbury remained in the Tower without trial. On 2 October 1690, the House of Lords read his

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

, which stated "That he hath been a prisoner for a year and nine months, notwithstanding the late act of free and general

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

, and praying to be discharged." On 30 October, the Lords found that both Salisbury and Peterborough had been pardoned by "the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's most gracious, general and free pardon" and resolved to discharge them both without hearing the views of the House of Commons on the matter. A decade later, parliament included a provision in the

Act of Settlement 1701 The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

stating plainly that "no pardon under the

Great Seal of England The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom (known prior to the Treaty of Union of 1707 as the Great Seal of England; and from then until the Union of 1801 as the Great Seal of Great Britain) is a seal that is used to sym ...

be pleadable to an impeachment by the Commons in Parliament". After his release, Salisbury pursued a case in the

High Court of Chancery High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

concerning his wife's marriage portion under her father's

, as only £10,000 of a legacy of £20,000 had been paid. The dispute was about whether the amount should be reduced because Lady Salisbury had been under the age of sixteen when she married, a circumstance which the Executors to the will had agreed to. On 1 May 1691, the Court found in Salisbury's favour and ordered that he should receive a further £10,000, by way of a charge on his wife's sisters' estates. In March 1693/94,

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

dedicated his new play '' Love Triumphant'' to Salisbury. His intention was probably to make a gesture of defiance to the new government, of which Dryden disapproved.Deborah Payne Fisk, ''The Cambridge companion to English Restoration theatre'' (2000), p. 101

Child and family

Salisbury's son and heir,

James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury (8 June 1691 – 9 October 1728), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1691 to 1694, was a British nobleman, politician, and peer. Salisbury was the son of James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury, and Frances Bennett, ...

(1691–1728), was born on 8 June 1691. James the 4th himself died on 24 October 1694, at the age of twenty-eight, to be succeeded by his infant son. His widow survived him until 1713. Barely a month before Salisbury's death, his wife's mother, Mrs Bennett, had been murdered by a butcher who broke into her house.George Edward Cokayne, ''Complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant'', vol. 7 (1896), p. 42: "As to the young Lady's mother, Luttrell tells us iary 20 Sep. 1694'Yesterday Mrs. Bennet, mother to the Countess of Salisbury, was murdered by a butcher, who broke into her home'." Salisbury had five sisters, all of whom lived to marry. Lady Margaret Cecil (1672–1727) married firstly John Stawell, 2nd Baron Stawell (died 1692), and secondly

Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh (8 February 1641 – 5 January 1712), known as The Viscount Ranelagh between 1669 and 1677, was an Irish peer, politician both in the Parliaments of England and Ireland. Background He was the eldest son of Ar ...

. Lady Catherine Cecil (died 1688) married

Sir George Downing, 2nd Baronet Sir George Downing, 2nd Baronet ( – June 1711) was a British civil servant. He was the son and heir of Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, for whom Downing Street is named. His father worked as Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer from 1660 unt ...

, in 1683. Lady Frances Cecil (died 1698) married Sir William Halford, 4th Baronet (died 1695), in 1692. Lady Mary Cecil (died 1740) married

Sir William Forester ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

KB (1655–1717). Another sister, Lady Mildred Cecil (died 1727), married firstly

Sir Uvedale Corbet, 3rd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

(1668–1701), and secondly Sir Charles Hotham, 4th Baronet (''ca.'' 1663–1723). Salisbury's great-grandson, another James Cecil (1748–1823), was created the first

Marquess of Salisbury Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for the 7th Earl of Salisbury. Most of the holders of the title have been prominent in British political life over the last two centuries, particularly th ...

in 1789; and ''his'' grandson, the third Marquess, was three times

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

, between 1885 and 1902.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salisbury, James Cecil, 3rd Earl Of 1666 births 1694 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge James, Salisbury 4

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Prisoners in the Tower of London Converts to Roman Catholicism English Roman Catholics Impeached British officials