Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
British prime minister who maintained 'splendid isolation' and led during the Scramble for Africa.
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), known as Lord Salisbury, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen years. He was also Foreign Secretary before and during most of his tenure. He avoided international alignments or alliances, maintaining the policy of 'splendid isolation'.
- born
- 3 February 1830
- died
- 22 August 1903
- field
- Politics
- nationality
- British
- known_for
- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, policy of splendid isolation, Scramble for Africa
Quick Facts
- Honorific Prefix
- The Most Honourable
- Honorific Suffix
- country=GBR · size=100% · KG · GCVO · PC · DL · FRS
- Office1
- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Monarch1
- Victoria · Edward VII
- Term Start1
- 25 June 1895
- Term End1
- 11 July 1902
- Predecessor1
- The Earl of Rosebery
- Successor1
- Arthur Balfour
- Monarch2
- Victoria
- Term Start2
- 25 July 1886
- Term End2
- 11 August 1892
- Predecessor2
- William Ewart Gladstone
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil was born on 3 February 1830 at Hatfield House, the third son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury and Frances Mary, née Gascoyne. He was a descendant of the 1st Earl of Salisbury, though not a direct patrilineal descendant of Lord Burghley. He had a miserable childhood, bullied at school, and left Eton in 1845 due to ill health, with bullying only a contributing factor. At Christ Church, Oxford, he received an honorary fourth class in Mathematics. He was elected a prize fellow of All Souls College, Oxford in 1853. He travelled through Cape Colony, Australia, and New Zealand from 1851 to 1853. He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative on 22 August 1853, as MP for Stamford. He served as Secretary of State for India in Lord Derby's government 1866–1867, and again under Disraeli in 1874. In 1878 he was appointed foreign secretary and played a leading part in the Congress of Berlin. After Disraeli's death in 1881, Salisbury emerged as the Conservative leader in the House of Lords. He succeeded Gladstone as prime minister in June 1885, held the office until January 1886, then again after the 1886 general election, and for a third time after the 1895 general election. He led Britain in the Boer War and relinquished the premiership to his nephew Arthur Balfour in 1902. He died in 1903. He was the last prime minister to serve from the House of Lords throughout the entirety of their premiership.
Reader's Guide
Historians agree that Salisbury was a strong and effective leader in foreign affairs. Paul Smith characterises his personality as 'deeply neurotic, depressive, agitated, introverted, fearful of change and loss of control, and self-effacing but capable of extraordinary competitiveness'. He held a reactionary credo: 'Whatever happens will be for the worse, and therefore it is in our interest that as little should happen as possible.' Searle says he longed to return to the stability of the past. He is generally ranked in the upper tier of British prime ministers.
Did You Know?
- Salisbury was the third son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, not the second surviving son.
- He published over 600 anonymous articles in the Saturday Review and Quarterly Review.
- He declined a 5-acre land offer from a Māori chief in New Zealand.
- He described a hotel infested by constituents as 'worse than one infested by bugs'.
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