James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury, was born on October 23, 1861, in London, England, son of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne and 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830-1903), British Prime Minister (1895-1902).

He was a British Conservative politician. He was educated at Eton and University College, Oxford (B.A., 1885). He accompanied his father to the 1876–1877 Constantinople Conference and the 1888 Congress of Berlin. He had a reputation as a zealous defender of the established church. Salisbury sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for Darwen (1885-1892) and Rochester (1893-1903). As Lieutenant-Colonel, he commanded the 4th (Militia) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, in South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). In 1903, he succeeded his father, Lord Cranborne, as a Member of the House of Lords, a post he held until 1947. Salisbury served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1922-1923), as Lord President of the Council (1922-1924), as Lord Privy Seal (1924-1929), and as Leader of the House of Lords (1925-1929). He resigned as Leader of the Conservative peers in 1931 and became one of the most prominent opponents of Indian Home Rule in the House of Lords, supporting the campaign of the House of Commons led by Winston Churchill against the Home Rule legislation. Together with Winston Churchill, he tried to organize British defences against Nazi Germany. From 1942 to 1945, he was president of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations.

In 1887, he married Lady Cicely Alicia Gore Salisbury, Marchioness of Salisbury (1867-1955). He died on April 4, 1947, in London, England.

Lady Cicely (Cecilia, Cecil) Alicia Gore Salisbury, Marchioness of Salisbury, was born on July 15, 1867, in London, England, daughter of Arthur Saunders William Charles Fox Gore, 5th Earl of Arran of the Arran Islands (1839-1901), and Lady Edith Elizabeth Henrietta Jocelyn (1845-1871).

She was an English noblewoman. In 1887, she married James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury (1861-1947). High-spirited and a sympathetic conversationalist, she soothed her husband's self-doubts and, as an energetic and popular hostess, complemented his public life. She acquired political significance through friendships with and mediations between public figures—most notably as Lord Kitchener's unofficial channel of communication with the cabinet during his dispute with Curzon over Indian military arrangements in the early 1900s. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and a Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire. She served as a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Alexandra between 1907 and 1910.

She died on February 5, 1955, in London, England.