Lord David Cecil

Lord Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil, CH, was born on 9 April 1902 and died on 1 January 1986. He was a British biographer, historian, and scholar. As a younger son of a marquess, he held the courtesy title of "Lord."

Early Life and Family Background:

Cecil was the youngest of four children born to James Gascoyne-Cecil, the 4th Marquess of Salisbury, and Lady Cicely Gore, the second daughter of Arthur Gore, the 5th Earl of Arran. His siblings included Lady Beatrice Edith Mildred Cecil, who later became Baroness Harlech; Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, the 5th Marquess of Salisbury; and Lady Mary Alice Cecil, who became Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.

Health and Education:

Cecil experienced health issues as a child, suffering from a tubercular gland in his neck at age eight. Following an operation, he spent considerable time in bed, which contributed to his love of reading. Due to his delicate health, he was sent to Eton College later than other students, where he reportedly survived by spending one day a week in bed. After completing his schooling, he attended Christ Church, Oxford, as an undergraduate.

Academic Career:

Cecil studied Modern History at Oxford, graduating with first-class honours in 1924. From 1924 to 1930, he was a Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. His first publication, *The Stricken Deer* (1929), a study of poet William Cowper, garnered immediate recognition as a literary historian. He subsequently conducted studies on Walter Scott, early Victorian novelists, and Jane Austen.

In 1939, Cecil became a Fellow of New College, Oxford, where he remained until 1969, after which he was named an Honorary Fellow.

He briefly served as Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London, in 1947 for one year. In 1948, Cecil returned to Oxford as a Professor of English Literature, a position he held until 1970.

Involvement with Literary Circles:

Cecil was associated with the "Inklings," a literary group that included authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Owen Barfield. Among his pupils at New College were Kingsley Amis, Bidhu Bhusan Das, R. K. Sinha, John Bayley, Dennis Burden, and Ludovic Kennedy.

Influence on Literary Thought:

A 1949 lecture by Cecil inspired L. P. Hartley's famous line about the nature of the past, which became the basis for Hartley's 1953 novel *The Go-Between*. Cecil's scholarly work included publications on Hardy, Shakespeare, Thomas Gray, Dorothy Osborne, and Walter Pater. He also authored a two-volume biography of Lord Melbourne, to whom he was distantly related, and wrote appreciations of visual artists such as Augustus John and Edward Burne-Jones.

Retirement and Later Work:

Following his retirement from academia, Cecil published further works on literary figures including Walter de la Mare, Jane Austen, Charles Lamb, and Desmond MacCarthy. He also authored historical accounts such as *The Cecils of Hatfield House* and *Some Dorset Country Houses*. His anthology, *Library Looking Glass*, was published in 1975.

Family:

In 1932, Cecil married Rachel MacCarthy, daughter of the literary journalist Sir Desmond MacCarthy. They had three children, one of whom was actor Jonathan Cecil.

Publications:

Cecil's notable works include *The Stricken Deer* (1929), *Sir Walter Scott: The Raven Miscellany* (1933), *Jane Austen* (1936), *The Young Melbourne and the Story of his Marriage with Caroline Lamb* (1939), *Hardy the Novelist* (1942), *Poetry of Thomas Gray* (1945), *Max* (1964), and *The Cecils of Hatfield House* (1973), among others. His editing and anthology work encompass various literary and artistic figures, contributing significantly to 20th-century British literary scholarship.

External References:

Cecil's works and biographical information can be found in various sources, including the Library of Congress, and he has been the subject of anthologies and essays by colleagues and scholars.