Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

The Most Honourable The Marquess of Salisbury KG GCVO PC FRS DL
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 25 June 1895 – 11 July 1902
Monarchs	Victoria Edward VII
Preceded by	The Earl of Rosebery
Succeeded by	Arthur Balfour
In office 25 July 1886 – 11 August 1892
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	William Ewart Gladstone
Succeeded by	William Ewart Gladstone
In office 23 June 1885 – 28 January 1886
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	William Ewart Gladstone
Succeeded by	William Ewart Gladstone
Ministerial positions Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal In office 12 November 1900 – 11 July 1902 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by The Viscount Cross Succeeded by Arthur Balfour Foreign Secretary In office 29 June 1895 – 12 November 1900 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by The Earl of Kimberley Succeeded by The Marquess of Lansdowne In office 14 January 1887 – 11 August 1892 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by The Earl of Iddesleigh Succeeded by The Earl of Rosebery In office 24 June 1885 – 6 February 1886 Prime Minister Himself Preceded by The Earl Granville Succeeded by The Earl of Rosebery In office 2 April 1878 – 28 April 1880 Prime Minister The Earl of Beaconsfield Preceded by The Earl of Derby Succeeded by The Earl Granville Secretary of State for India In office 21 February 1874 – 2 April 1878 Prime Minister The Earl of Beaconsfield Preceded by The Duke of Argyll Succeeded by The Viscount Cranbrook In office 6 July 1866 – 8 March 1867 Prime Minister The Earl of Derby Preceded by The Earl de Grey Succeeded by Sir Stafford Northcote
Parliamentary offices Leader of the Opposition In office 11 August 1892 – 22 June 1895 Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone Succeeded by The Earl of Rosebery In office 28 January 1886 – 20 July 1886 Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone Succeeded by William Ewart Gladstone In office May 1881 – 9 June 1885 Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone Preceded by Benjamin Disraeli Succeeded by William Ewart Gladstone Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Hereditary peerage 12 April 1868 – 22 August 1903 Preceded by The 2nd Marquess of Salisbury Succeeded by The 4th Marquess of Salisbury Member of Parliament for Stamford In office 22 August 1853 – 12 April 1868 Preceded by John Charles Herries Succeeded by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot
Personal details
Born	(1830-02-03)3 February 1830 Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England
Died	22 August 1903(1903-08-22) (aged 73) Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England
Resting place	St Etheldreda's Church, Hatfield
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Georgina Alderson ​ ​ (m. 1857; died 1899)​
Children	Maud, Countess of Selborne Lady Gwendolen James, 4th Marquess of Salisbury William, Bishop of Exeter Robert, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood Lord Edward Hugh, 1st Baron Quickswood
Parents	James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury (father) Frances Mary Gascoyne (mother)
Education	Eton College (did not finish)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Cabinet	I II III IV
Signature

Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury KG GCVO PC FRS DL (/ˈɡæskɔɪn ˈsɪsəl/;^[1][a] 3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), known as Lord Salisbury, was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen years. He was also Foreign Secretary before and during most of his tenure. He avoided alignments or alliances, maintaining the policy of "splendid isolation".

Lord Robert Cecil, later known as Lord Salisbury, was first elected to the House of Commons in 1854 and served as Secretary of State for India in Lord Derby's Conservative government 1866–1867. In 1874, under Disraeli, Salisbury returned as Secretary of State for India, and, in 1878, was appointed foreign secretary, and played a leading part in the Congress of Berlin. After Disraeli's death in 1881, Salisbury emerged as the Conservative leader in the House of Lords, with Sir Stafford Northcote leading the party in the Commons. He succeeded William Ewart Gladstone as prime minister in June 1885, and held the office until January 1886.

When Gladstone came out in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, Salisbury opposed him and formed an alliance with the breakaway Liberal Unionists, winning the subsequent general election. His biggest achievement in this term was obtaining the majority of the new territory in Africa during the Scramble for Africa, avoiding a war or serious confrontation with the other powers. He remained as prime minister until Gladstone's Liberals formed a government with the support of the Irish nationalists at the 1892 general election. The Liberals, however, lost the 1895 general election, and Salisbury for the third and last time became prime minister. He led Britain to victory in a bitter, controversial war against the Boers, and led the Unionists to another electoral victory in 1900. He relinquished the premiership to his nephew Arthur Balfour in 1902 and died in 1903. He was the last prime minister to serve from the House of Lords throughout the entirety of his premiership.^[b][2]

Historians agree that Salisbury was a strong and effective leader in foreign affairs, with a wide grasp of the issues. Paul Smith characterises his personality as "deeply neurotic, depressive, agitated, introverted, fearful of change and loss of control, and self-effacing but capable of extraordinary competitiveness."^[3] A representative of the landed aristocracy, he held the reactionary credo, "Whatever happens will be for the worse, and therefore it is in our interest that as little should happen as possible."^[4] Searle says that instead of seeing his party's victory in 1886 as a harbinger of a new and more popular Conservatism, he longed to return to the stability of the past, when his party's main function was to restrain demagogic liberalism and democratic excess.^[5] He is generally ranked in the upper tier of British prime ministers.

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