McGill Libraries
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Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Salisbury, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Marquess of, 1893-1972
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1893-1972
History
Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury, was born on August 27, 1893, in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, son of a politician James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury (1861-1947).
He was a British Conservative politician. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, but left school for war service without completing his degree. He served in the Army during the First World War as a Lieutenant of the Grenadier Guards and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and Chevalier Order of the Crown of Belgium. After the war, he worked for a City bill broking firm for the next ten years. In 1929, he entered politics as Conservative Member of Parliament for South Dorset, a post he held until 1941. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Lord Privy Seal in 1934 and promoted to Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1935 to 1938. He was made Paymaster-General by Winston Churchill for the duration of the Battle of Britain (July-October 1940) and was appointed Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs from 1940 to 1942. He was a Member of the House of Lords from 1941 until he died in 1972. Salisbury was known as Viscount Cranborne from 1903 to 1947 and Lord Cranborne from 1947. He served as Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1942, Lord Privy Seal (1942-1943), Leader of the House of Lords (1942-1945) and again Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs (1943-1945). In 1951, Salisbury was reappointed Leader of the House of Lords. In June 1953, as Acting Foreign Secretary, he carried the sword of state at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. He received an honorary degree DCL from the University of Liverpool in 1951. He served as chair of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments in 1957, and from 1959 to 1966, was a trustee of the National Gallery. He was chancellor of Liverpool University from 1951 to 1971, a Fellow of Eton College from 1951 to 1966, and a Fellow of the Royal Society from 1957.
In 1915, he married Elizabeth Vere (-1982). He died on February 23, 1972, in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.