James Cecil, 1st Marquess Of Salisbury

James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury, was born on 4 September 1748. He was the son of James Cecil, the 6th Earl of Salisbury, and Elizabeth Keat. He held the courtesy title of Viscount Cranborne until 1780 and was known as the Earl of Salisbury from 1780 to 1789.

Cecil was educated to become a nobleman and politician. His parliamentary career began in 1774 when he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Great Bedwyn. He held this seat until 1780. In that year, he also briefly represented Launceston and Plympton Erle. In 1780, upon the death of his father, he succeeded to the earldom of Salisbury, which elevated him to the House of Lords.

During his tenure, Salisbury served under Prime Minister Lord North as Treasurer of the Household from 1780 to 1782. Subsequently, he served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household under Prime Ministers William Pitt the Younger and Henry Addington from 1783 to 1804. In 1780, he was admitted to the Privy Council, an advisory body to the sovereign. In 1789, he was elevated to the Marquess of Salisbury, a peerage in Wiltshire.

He held various other offices, including serving as joint Postmaster General under Lord Liverpool from 1816 to 1823. Additionally, Salisbury was the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire from 1771 to 1823, a ceremonial position representing the crown in the county. In 1793, he was made a Knight of the Garter, a prestigious order of chivalry.

Apart from his political roles, Salisbury had a career in the militia. During the American War of Independence, he served as Colonel of the Hertfordshire Militia, primarily for home defense. To support discharged militia men, he employed 200 of them on improvements to his Hatfield estate. He was still commanding this regiment when it was called out again in 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars.

In his personal life, Salisbury married Lady Emily Mary Wills Hill, daughter of Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, on 2 December 1773. Lady Emily was recognized as a sportswoman and influential society hostess. The couple had four children: Lady Georgiana Charlotte Augusta Cecil (1786–1860), who married Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley; Lady Emily Anne Bennet Elizabeth Cecil (1789–1858), who married George Nugent, 1st Marquess of Westmeath; Caroline Cecil, who died young; and James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil, who became the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury (1791–1868).

James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury, died in June 1823 at the age of 74. His wife, Lady Emily, died in a fire at Hatfield House in November 1835.