Home > Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury

Lord Salisbury was a prominent Tory politician in the 1940s and 1950s, serving in the governments of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, and Harold Macmillan. He was known as a hardline imperialist, and was a staunch defender of the white-dominated regime in Southern RhodesiaSouthern Rhodesia was the name of the African country of Zimbabwe when still a colony of the United Kingdom. It was also known as Rhodesia for a time. Named after Cecil Rhodes, the British empire-builder who was the most important figure in European expan (now ZimbabweThe Republic of Zimbabwe is a country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Victoria Falls, Zambesi river, Kariba Dam and Limpopo river. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west, Zambia to the north) during the 1960s, and a fierce opponent of attempts to reform the House of Lords, yet he created what is known as the Salisbury ConventionThe Salisbury Convention is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom that means that the House of Lords will not oppose any government legislation promised by its election manifesto. It was introduced by Lord Salisbury, the Conservative leader of. He was succeeded by his son in 1972.

Lord Salisbury was married to Elizabeth Vere Cavendish, a cousin of the 10th Duke of DevonshireEdward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire ( 1895 1950), also known as Earl of Burlington (1895 1908) and Marquess of Hartington (1908 1938), was Member of Parliament for West Derbyshire and a Minister in Winston Churchill's wartime cabinet and a great-granddaughter of the 7th Duke of DevonshireWilliam Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire ( April 27, 1808 December 21, 1891), was the great-grandson of the 4th duke and grandson of the 1st Earl of Burlington who he succeeded in that title in 1834 before succeeding his cousin in the Dukedom in 1858. and his wife, herself a granddaughter of Georgiana, Duchess of DevonshireGeorgiana, Duchess of Devonshire ( June 7, 1757 March 30, 1806), born Lady Georgiana Spencer was the first wife of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire and mother of William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire. Her father, John, 1st Earl. They had three sons, of whom only the eldest survived the Second World War.