CECIL, William Alleyne, Lord Burghley (1825-1895), of Brookfield House, Ryde, Isle of Wight and Burghley House, Northants

Styled Lord Burghley, Cecil sat for Lincolnshire South, 1847-57, and Northamptonshire North, 1857-67, as a Protectionist. Mostly silent during the first decade of his career, after being stationed in Gibraltar during the Crimean war he began to take an active and vocal interest in military matters. He subsequently served in the royal household, succeeding as 3^rd marquess of Exeter in 1867.

Son of the second Marquess of Exeter and a descendant of Queen Elizabeth’s celebrated secretary of state and lord high treasurer, William Cecil, Burghley received a customary aristocratic education at Eton and Cambridge, where he graduated with an honorary M.A. in May 1847.1Brighton Gazette, 13 May 1847. Within a month of his graduation, and after it had been rumoured he would stand for Stamford at the upcoming general election, Burghley came forward for Lincolnshire South in 1847.2Lincolnshire Chronicle, 11 June 1847, 18 June 1847, 25 June 1847. He was elected unopposed on a protectionist ticket at a sparsely attended nomination featuring ‘no banners, no music [and] no excitement’, where he avowed his Protestantism, opposition to ‘any measure that might assist … the Church of Rome’ and promised to protect ‘native industry’ from ‘the produce of foreign labour’.3Ibid, 6 Aug. 1847.

A generally lax attender until his final year in parliament, Burghley voted with the Protectionist leadership over most issues, but consistently opposed the removal of Jewish disabilities and any alteration to the parliamentary oath. He also voted with the grouping of protectionists and Irish landlords who sought to delay Russell’s Irish poor law amendment bill, 5 Mar. 1849. He made his only recorded speech of the parliament when seconding a motion to delay Russell’s Jewish disabilities bill, declaring that the legislation would ‘open the door to any infidel, whether heathen or Mussulman’, 7 Feb. 1848. He was an active member of the 1852 select committee on the pharmacy bill, and completed some private committee work during the parliament.4PP 1847-8 (644), xvi. 109; PP 1852 (387), xii. 387. He presented one recorded petition in favour of agricultural relief, from the inhabitants of Crowland, Lincs., 5 July 1849. During the Parliament, Burghley had married the ‘beautiful’ Lady Georgina Pakenham in a high society wedding at St George’s Church, Hanover Square on 17 October 1848, and enjoyed a short stint as a first class cricketer for the MCC.5Morning Post, 18 Oct. 1848; The Times, 30 May 1848, 17 July 1850; Morning Chronicle, 10 Sep. 1849; Bell’s Life, 14 July 1850, 7 Sept. 1851; Disraeli to Lady Londonderry, 22 Aug. 1848: Benjamin Disraeli letters, 1848-1851, ed. M. G. Wiebe et al. (1993), v. 65. It was during this time that he also became ‘a devoted admirer of yachting, shooting, and of hunting’.6The Sporting Mirror, 40, vii. (1864), 162.

Burghley was re-elected uncontested for Lincolnshire South in 1852 after offering his continued support to Lord Derby’s government and agricultural protection, as well as his opposition to the Maynooth grant and any extension to the suffrage.7Lincolnshire Chronicle, 23 July 1852. His attendance remained below average during the first two sessions of the parliament, and aside from opposing all three readings of the 1853 Jewish disabilities bill, he voted with the Conservative leadership. He was silent during this time, but did present a petition against the education bill for Scotland in April 1854.8The Times, 6 Apr. 1854.

He was almost entirely absent from parliament during 1855 and 1856 on account of military service. He had entered into active command of the Northamptonshire militia in April 1854, following increased tensions in the Crimea, and was garrisoned with his division in Ireland from August 1854. He was able to return to parliament to vote in the majority for Roebuck’s motion that brought down Aberdeen’s coalition ministry, 29 Jan. 1855, before travelling to Gibraltar with his troops in February 1855. He was stationed for a year in Gibraltar, during which time he occasionally returned to England.9The Times, 8 May 1854; Dublin Evening Mail, 25 Aug. 1854; Northamptonshire Mercury, 17 Feb. 1855; Lancaster Gazette, 21 Apr. 1855. Following his return from service in June 1856 he briefly attended Parliament before contracting smallpox, prior to which he had voted in the small minority that opposed a motion for non-denominational education in Ireland, 23 Jun. 1856. He paired with Serjeant O’Brien for the remainder of the Parliament, and sought respite in Wales until at least October 1856.10Dublin Weekly Nation, 5 July 1856; The Times, 18 Oct. 1856. On his return to Parliament in February 1857 he lobbied the under-secretary of state over military ammunition, before voting with a small band of die-hard Protectionists who sought to delay the 1857 budget until the Commons had agreed to the military estimates, 23 Feb. 1857.11The Times, 14 Feb. 1857.

Burghley retired from Lincolnshire South at the dissolution after a vacancy opened in Northamptonshire North, the site of his family seat.12The Times, 14 Mar. 1857. His candidature and a lack of Liberal opposition prompted accusations that the division had become ‘like some trumpery Pocket Borough’ under the control of his father, the marquess of Exeter.13Northampton Mercury, 14 Mar. 1857. On the hustings he confirmed his continued opposition to the Maynooth grant, the introduction of the £10 franchise in the counties, any plan for national education that omitted ‘the teaching of the Bible’ and reform of church rates, informing electors that it was ‘the duty of every parishioner to support their parish church’. He also confirmed his support for the abolition of income tax by 1860, contingent on the implementation of a ‘system of judicious economy’.14Northampton Mercury, 4 Apr. 1857.

Prior to the collapse of the Liberal government, he divided consistently with the Conservative leadership on major issues, and paired in the majority against Palmerston’s conspiracy to murder bill, 19 Feb. 1858.15The Times, 20 Feb. 1858 During the subsequent Derby administration he generally voted with the leadership, although he did vote in the minorities that sought to delay the church rates abolition bill, 21 Apr. 1858, and opposed the Lords’ bill for the admission of Jews to parliament, 16 July 1858. Burghley’s military experience prompted him to end his parliamentary silence, and he posed several questions to successive ministries regarding military arrangements, 28 May, 11 Aug. 1857, 27 Apr. 11 May, 17 June 1858.16The Times, 17 June 1858. Although he had spoken against parliamentary reform in 1857, he voted in the minority in favour of the Derby administration’s reform bill, 31 Mar. 1859, and was stranded in London on private committee work as canvassing commenced for the general election.17The Times, 9 Apr. 1859; PP 1859 (0.36), xxvi. 127.

The 1859 election was the only contest of Burghley’s two-decade Commons career. He stood on a joint ticket and shared committee rooms with his fellow Conservative incumbent. In his election address he criticised an opportunistic ‘combination of parties of different political sections’ for ‘embarrassing’ the Derby administration at a time of heightened national security and for ‘preventing fair discussion’ of its reform bill.18Northampton Mercury, 9 Apr. 1859, 16 Apr. 1859. On the hustings he explained that he would have allowed the Derby reform bill to enter into committee, but would have divided against the £10 county franchise and £20 lodging franchise clauses. To jeering from the crowd, he offered his support to the savings bank franchise clause, which he explained would inspire the ‘labouring’ man to ‘keep away from the pot house and conduct himself steadily’, given that if he ‘put by 1s. a week he might in 18 or 20 years be qualified’. He confirmed his continued opposition to the abolition of church rates, as well as the ballot, a £6 borough franchise and tenant right. Burghley was returned top of the poll in the ensuing contest with 1,849 votes, 500 ahead of his third placed liberal opponent.19Ibid, 7 May 1859, 14 May 1859.

Burghley followed the Conservative whip on major votes during the subsequent parliament. However, he sided with the ultras in the party in the minorities that sought to consider the removal of the Maynooth grant, 14 Feb. 1860, and delay Dillwyn’s motion to consider the position of the Irish church, 28 Mar. 1865. He continued to scrutinise ministers over military and foreign affairs and was a member of the select committee on militia estimates in 1861 and 1862.20PP 1861 (263), xxxvi. 467; PP 1861 (461), xiii. 467; PP 1862 (395), vi. 101; PP 1863 (126), xxxiii. 233. In his only speech of note that parliament he highlighted the necessity for extended periods of militia training, which he argued had been rendered necessary by ‘modern improvements in firearms’, 31 Mar. 1862. He also continued to serve on private committees.21PP 1863 (0.104), xlviii. 19; PP 1864 (0.131), xlviii. 57.

Burghley was returned uncontested for Northamptonshire North in 1865 at a sparsely attended nomination. On the hustings he maintained his opposition to the removal of church rates, and held the same position on reform as in 1859, criticising Gladstone for his apparent support of manhood suffrage.22Northampton Mercury, 15 July 1865. 1866 was Burghley’s final year in the Commons. It was also his most active. He attended 43 of 80 recorded divisions, dividing consistently with the opposition. Of note, he voted in the minority that opposed the second reading of the church rates abolition bill, 7 Mar. 1866, and majorities that opposed the Liberal government’s reform bill, 27 Apr. 1866, and Berkeley’s ballot motion, 17 July 1866. Burghley played an active role in committee debates over the cattle diseases bill during February, warning that the extension of railways throughout Europe brought the risk of rinderpest ‘nearer and nearer to this kingdom’ and calling for greater monitoring of foreign cattle in port towns, 12 Feb. 1866. He continued to ask questions of ministers regarding militia administration and foreign affairs, as well as one regarding workhouse conditions in Clerkenwell, 23 Mar. 1866. He sat on the select committee that considered navigation and drainage on the Shannon River, requested electoral statistics relating to property valuation in the counties, and completed some private committee work.23PP 1866 (213), xi. 617; PP 1866 (335), lvii. 15; PP 1866 (0.108), lvi. 583.

Burghley was appointed treasurer of the household in Derby’s 1866 administration, and although Kettering’s frustrated Liberals heckled him on the hustings, his re-election following his appointment to office was not contested.24Northampton Mercury, 21 July 1866. His father’s death in January 1867 meant he had moved to the Lords as the 3^rd marquess of Exeter ahead of the start of the next session, where remained in office as captain of the honourable corps of gentlemen-at-arms between 1867-8. He held the position again between 1874-5. He exhibited moderate activity in the Lords, preferring to focus on local administration after his retirement from the Commons. He was an active magistrate in Northamptonshire, the soke of Peterborough (where he was appointed custos rotulorum) as well as Lincolnshire and Rutland before being appointed as an alderman to Northamptonshire County Council in 1889. Prior to his death one contemporary observed that he was ‘probably the best liked of all the public men in Northamptonshire’.25Northamptonshire Mercury, 19 July 1895. He devoted the rest of his time as marquess of Exeter to yachting (he became a member of the Royal Yacht squadron in 1867, and a commodore of the Royal Victoria yacht club in 1875), hunting, some unsuccessful exploits on the turf, and the breeding of cattle and fish (he became the founding president of the National Piscicultural Association in 1883).26Ibid; The Times, 16 July 1895; The Sporting Mirror, 40, vii. (1864), 160-4; Stamford Mercury, 5 Jan. 1883. He died at Burghley House on 15 July 1895. He was succeeded by his son, Brownlow Cecil (1849-98) who sat for Northamptonshire North between 1877 and 1895, and survived by his wife and six of his children. His will was proved under £75,000.27England and Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1895, 64 (30 Nov. 1895). Two volumes of his personal correspondence with his cousin, the fifth Earl Spencer are held at the British Library.