CECIL, Robert (c.1620-?1660), of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, and Theobalds, Herts.

The Commons Journal offers glimpses of a young man who was a useful member of Parliament’s administration in Middlesex and Hertfordshire in the 1640s. Considering that he was the second son of a front-rank peer, however, much about Cecil’s life remains surprisingly obscure. Exceptionally, there is relatively plentiful evidence about his childhood and youth. He can have been little more than a year younger than his brother Charles Cecil*, Viscount Cranborne, baptized in July 1619, for he appeared in the household accounts for 1622, had his portrait painted in 1626 and in October 1628 was in Geneva, recovering from smallpox and trying to perfect his French.17HMC Hatfield, xxii. 166, 216, 235, 247. With Cranborne he was admitted to St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1634 and pursued his studies under the supervision of Daniel Marrett of Pembroke College.18HMC Hatfield, xxii. 285-6. From April 1636 to April 1638 the brothers travelled extensively in France, visiting among other places St Germain (the court of Louis XIII), Saumur (the location of a major Huguenot académie) and Grenoble; in Paris they had rooms at the teaching establishment of ‘Mr Benjamin’ and in August 1637 they subscribed at the Academy in Geneva.19HMC Hatfield, xxii. 288, 289; Le Livre du Recteur ed. Stelling-Michaud, i. 187. It is possible that Robert remained abroad when Cranborne returned home for his marriage in 1639: at the end of that year he was in Paris with his next brother, Philip (baptized 1625). In the heat of a quarrel there with one Tyrell, who was in the retinue of Charles I’s young cousins Lord John and Lord Bernard Stuart, Robert criticised the English ambassador, Robert Sidney, 2nd earl of Leicester. Forced to apologise, he declared that he had intended no disrespect to the king, and rapidly returned to England, arriving in Kent before the end of January 1640.20SP78/109, ff. 35, 39; HMC Hatfield, xxii. 305-6.

This was perhaps too late for his father to organise a place alongside Cranborne in the Parliament which met on 3 April. With a new round of elections in prospect that autumn, Salisbury was determined to secure the return of both his elder sons, instructing his receiver-general, Roger Kirkham*, to influence the voters of Hertford and St Albans in their favour.21HMC Hatfield, xxiv. 276-7. Cranborne was successful at Hertford, but Robert Cecil was chosen instead on 1 October at Old Sarum, where Salisbury shared electoral patronage with Philip Herbert*, 4th earl of Pembroke.22C219/43/3, no. 16.

Although he was still no more than 20 years old and lacking experience of public life in England, Cecil’s standing as Salisbury’s son and the latest representative of an illustrious family doubtless secured notice in the Commons. He received a relatively modest four committee nominations before Christmas, but all were of some significance. On 30 November he and Cranborne were included on the joint committee with the Lords to advance the impeachment of Thomas Wentworth†, 1st earl of Strafford, while Cecil alone sat with other local notables to consider the complaint of the inhabitants of Watford about Ship Money levies in Hertfordshire (5 Dec.).23CJ ii. 39b, 45b. He was then appointed to two committees addressing grievances related to ecclesiastical jurisdiction: the case of the puritan pamphleteer John Bastwick (17 Dec.) and complaints against Matthew Wren, bishop of Ely (22 Dec.).24CJ ii. 52b, 56a. That he, as much as his family, had a particular interest in promoting religious reformation at the expense of the Laudian episcopal establishment is suggested by his addition with others to the committee for preaching ministers (8 Jan. 1641).25CJ ii. 65a. A commitment to a godly agenda, perhaps first nurtured in his days at Geneva, is also indicated by his inclusion on committees preparing bills for the abolition of superstition and idolatry, and advance of true worship (13 Feb.) and for the abolition of usury (19 Mar.) – his only appointments that spring.26CJ ii. 84b, 108a. Cecil took the Protestation promptly with his brother on 3 May.27CJ ii. 133b.

For reasons unknown, Cecil was then absent from the Journal until 18 March 1642, when it was resolved that he be recommended as a deputy lieutenant for Middlesex.28CJ ii. 486a. This complemented his selection as captain of trained bands in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, where he probably lived at Cecil House in the Strand, and at this juncture was an indication that he shared his father and brother’s loyalty to Parliament.29HMC Hatfield, xxii. 334. However, on 14 July he was sent to Hertfordshire with Cranborne, joint lord lieutenant with their father, to co-ordinate the war effort there.30CJ ii. 671b. That county became the focus of his service throughout 1643, as he appeared on successive military and money-raising commissions, and it remained so to a large extent thereafter.31A. and O. The extent of his direct involvement in fighting is unclear, but he had only one committee appointment at Westminster between 31 March 1642 and the return of the Rump in 1659 – to address complaints of contradictory parliamentary ordinances regarding Middlesex, 21 March 1644 – suggesting that, like the similarly rare attender Cranborne, who became commander-in-chief of Hertfordshire forces at the end of 1643, he had plenty to occupy him there.32CJ ii. 505b; iii. 434a. He was later credited as a colonel, pointing to a position in the militia.33Lysons, Environs (1796), iv. 29-39.

Cecil continued to opt for provincial duties in the later 1640s. In February 1647 he obtained the keepership of the lodge in Theobalds Park, the erstwhile royal estate which his grandfather had obtained in exchange for Hatfield.34CJ iv. 732a; v. 86a, 86b, 87a. A son named William was baptized at nearby Cheshunt in June 1648, the boy’s mother being Katherine Hopton, whom he had married four years earlier – conceivably a kinswoman of Sir Ralph Hopton*.35Cheshunt par. reg.; St Botolph Aldersgate par. reg.; VCH Herts. Fams. 115. By this time Cecil was probably appearing sufficiently often at Westminster to escape the notice of those noting absentees, but inclining towards prioritising a peace settlement with the king, since on 28 September he was given leave to join Salisbury, who was acting as a commissioner on the Isle of Wight.36CJ vi. 35a. At Pride’s Purge on 6 December, Cecil appears to have been among those secluded from the House. Unlike the earl, who took advantage of dispensations following the abolition of the House of Lords to become Member for King’s Lynn (1649) and subsequently for Hertfordshire, Robert Cecil does not appear to have sat again.

However, Cecil, who had been named as a Hertfordshire militia commissioner on 2 December 1648, was appointed an assessment commissioner for the county through the 1650s.37A. and O. Like his father he may well have adopted a low-profile conformity. Initially he probably retreated to Theobalds, where he was apparently occupying his lodge when a survey was taken of the park in 1650, prior to sale by the government to pay off army arrears.38Lysons, Environs (1796), iv. 29-39. Thereafter, he resided at least partly in London. Another son called William was born in the city in 1652 or 1653.39‘William Cecil’, Al. Ox. Cecil evidently remained close to his father, since the family accounts record the expenses of two of his sons at school in Hertford in 1656-7 and his wife Katherine was buried at Hatfield in 1657.40HMC Hatfield, xxii. 431; VCH Herts. Fams. 115.

Cecil returned to Westminster when the Long Parliament reassembled in 1659, although there is no record of sustained attendance, despite the fact that he was now potentially his father’s chief voice in the Commons, his ailing elder brother having fled from his debtors to France. Robert’s first committee nomination, on 11 August 1659, was of private rather than public importance, relating to the contested estate of a former London merchant.41CJ vii. 755b. His second and last, on 9 February 1660, involved the more significant task of framing an act setting qualifications for admission to the City’s Common Council.42CJ vii, 838b.

It is possible that he was ill, or in financial straits, or both. He was presumably alive on or shortly before 1 June, when he was again appointed an assessment commissioner for Hertfordshire, but he may have died soon afterwards, predeceasing Salisbury as his brother Charles had done.43Ordinance for an Assessment (1660). No evidence has emerged that he contested the elections for the Convention, either in Hertfordshire or in Wiltshire. His younger brother Algernon was a candidate at Old Sarum, and returned according to one indenture, although eventually unseated.44HP Commons 1660-1690. His children were taken by members of Salisbury’s household to view Charles II’s coronation, but Robert himself disappears from sight.45HMC Hatfield, xxii. 438. His son William was a Cambridge MA who served as rector of St Michael Coslany, Norwich, for nearly 40 years until his death in 1715.46Al. Ox. His daughter Diana referred in her will, drafted in Kensington in November 1707, to her father Robert ‘deceased’.47VCH Herts. Fams. 115. It was left to Charles’s son James Cecil† to represent the family in the Commons, before succeeding in 1668 as 3rd earl of Salisbury.48HP Commons 1660-1690.