The Retirement of Lord Salisbury | History Today The Retirement of Lord Salisbury The Marquess of Salisbury The last PM to run Britain from the House of Lords resigned on July 11th, 1902. The third Marquess of Salisbury was the last prime minister to run Britain from the House of Lords, for most of the period between June 1885 and his retirement in 1902. He held the office altogether for close to fourteen years, which outdid Gladstone, and for most of that time he was his own foreign secretary. Salisbury was an imperialist, who presided over a massive expansion of the British Empire and who believed and did not hesitate to say that European, preferably British, rule was essential for the development of the world’s ‘backward’ peoples to a point where they were fit to govern themselves. He viewed Continental Europe with a wary eye and avoided long-term alliances and commitments. Whether his ‘splendid isolation’ policy, as his critics called it, could have kept Britain out of the First World War is a moot point, but if he had been in charge in 1914 matters would have been handled differently.

At home, Salisbury was a devout supporter of the Church of England and an opponent of Irish Home Rule. He was not rigidly opposed to change and his government laid the foundations of the welfare state in the 1890s, but he distrusted emotionalism, theorists and phrase-mongers, and his administrations were sparing with new legislation. His principles gained widespread popular support, won him general elections with thumping majorities in 1895 and 1900 and made the Conservative Party the dominant force in British politics for twenty years. They also helped to put a damper on the progress of the revolutionary Left in Britain. Civilised, humorous, cynical and likeable, the Victorian Titan, as his biographer Andrew Roberts calls him, was born Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil in 1830 at Hatfield House, his family’s stately home in Hertfordshire. He was MP for Stamford in his twenties and thirties as Lord Robert Cecil (pronounced ‘Sissle’ by those in the know), succeeded as marquess in 1868 and was foreign secretary under Disraeli in 1878-80.

He owned Hatfield House, a London house in Arlington Street and some 20,000 acres in Hertfordshire and other counties. In his later years his income was close to £60,000 a year, equivalent to perhaps £3.5 million now. His wealth, social position and intellectual brilliance sustained his political independence and natural authority, and a happy marriage in 1857 to a middle-class wife, Georgina Alderson, produced eight children. He was a great reader, with a special interest in science. Hunting, shooting and fishing were a closed book to him along with horse-racing, cricket and sport of any kind, but he would play an occasional game of billiards. For his health in his last years he rode a tricycle, with a footman along to push him up hills. The prime minister tricycling through St James’s Park in a purple velvet poncho must have been a memorable sight. Salisbury’s beloved wife died in 1899 and by November 1900 his burdens were telling on him. He was seventy, his health was failing and both his doctors and his colleagues pressed him to give up the foreign office.

Lord Lansdowne took over while Salisbury soldiered on as prime minister. Queen Victoria died in 1901, the Boer War was concluded in May 1902 and the experience of almost falling asleep in a cabinet meeting convinced Salisbury that enough was enough. He resigned in July, recommending his nephew Arthur Balfour as his successor. Balfour duly took office, but he did not inspire the respect that his uncle had commanded. Unable to keep his party together, he lost the election of 1906. Salisbury, meanwhile, had died at Hatfield in 1903. He was buried next to his wife, and his statue by Sir George Frampton sits majestically outside the gates of Hatfield House today, contemplating a quite singularly uninspiring railway station. Lord Salisbury | Uncyclopedia | Fandom powered by Wikia ~ Oscar Wilde on Lord Salisbury “It's been a pleasure working alongside him all these years and he will be sorely missed” ~ Salisbury's Beard on Salisbury Salisbury ponders his theory of revolution. Thinks: Men=Monkeys?

Robert Arthur Talbot Gladstone Del-boy Dermot Morgan Percy out of Blackadder Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC, GCSE, DDT, PLC, ABC (it's easy as 123) BBC (3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), was a British statesman and Charles Darwin look-alike who served as Prime Minister on three occasions, none of them remarkable (unless you are counting remarkable events). Salisbury was the first British Prime Minister of the 20th century, and the last British Prime Minister of the 19th Century. He was there when Queen Victoria died from Little Old Lady diseases, holding her hand and telling her that beloved Prince Albert was standing next to him and making hand signals. Contents [ show ] edit A Privileged Childhood (Southern Ponce) Salisbury was the second son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, the 2nd in line to the second secret recipe for two second Salisbury Steak (unremarkable, you see?).

After an unhappy childhood, in which he was sent to Eton College, Mrs Beeton's picnic, the bat cave and all the shit rides at Alton Towers , Salisbury went up to the East side to get himself a piece of pie. He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative in 1853, under a pledge to replace all crappy Ferris wheels with bad-ass roller coasters. At first considered an unremarkable MP (unremarkable, you see?) Salisbury grew a sizable beard. He disapproved of democracy and instead advocated a 'Pogonogarchy', the rule of those with beards over the clean shaven mob. Salisbury tried to forward his bearded agenda in the House of Commons but his bill was vetoed by Queen Victoria. She thought Salisbury was talking about banning Lesbianism and no one was willing to correct her. edit A Privileged Adulthood (Beardy Ponce) With his political career going nowhere, Salisbury took a year out from Parliament and met his wife, Consequently, in 1857, "Beardy Twat" - as he came to be known - married Georgina Alderson, a woman of lower social standing, over the objections of his father.

His father protested that Alda was a) a vegetarian who would not understand the ways of the Salisbury's; b) Her social standing was unbecoming of a man of Salisbury’s tenderness, sauciness and side-salad; and c) She was a right bloody Moose. Regardless, the marriage proved a happy one and bore him five sons, two daughters and three rat-beasts. In 1866 Cecil, now Viscount Cranberry Sauce after the death of his older brother (in beard related circumstances), entered the third Government of Lord Derby Hat as Secretary of State for India . Though he tried to refine himself to the tastes of his new domain by cutting back on the gravy and currying himself lightly, he resigned the next year over the Second Reform Bill, which he opposed as it suggested a vegetarian diet would improve digestion. In 1868, on the (suspicious and beard-related) death of his father, Salisbury Steak inherited the Marquessate of Salisbury - a rather poncy title which nevertheless made him a member of the House of Lords . It was the happiest day in his life.

From 1868 and 1871, he was chairman of the Great Eastern Railway, which was then experiencing losses, though bribed insiders assured bribed reporters that this had little if anything to do with the embezzlement of company funds to pay beard tax and buy beard wax. During Steak's tenure, the company was taken out of chancery, and paid out a small dividend on its ordinary shares. This sort of boring trivialities will be of interest only to very boring, bearded men interested in company law. Chances are they will be named after a type of steak. Sirloin Salisbury returned to government in 1874, serving once again as India's Secretary, serving tea and steaks, and in the government of Benjamin Disraeli . The two shared and amicable friendship though Salisbury disapproved of Disraeli's tendency to call fellow politician William Gladstone a "twat". However, Salisbury gradually developed a good relationship with Disraeli.

In 1878, Salisbury succeeded Lord Derby Hat II (Revenge of the Derby Hat) as Foreign Secretary (that being a secretary who deals with bloody foreigner’s rather than one who is a bloody foreigner) in time to help lead Britain to "peace with honour" at the Congress of Berlin. For this he was rewarded with the Order of the Garter, but blamed for laying the foundations which would later trigger World War One , the beardy twat. edit Premiership Years (Statesmanlike Ponce) Following Disraeli's death in 1881, the result of a beard related stab wound to the face, the Conservatives entered a period of turmoil embodied by accusations of beard-related stabbings. Salisbury's jovial nature made him the most popular Prime Minister ever (basically, I'm just putting in pictures of men with big beards, it's on obvious joke, but it'll have to do) Salisbury became the leader of the Conservative members of the House of Lords, though the overall leadership of the party was not formally allocated.

Many blamed an inexplicable fear of beards which had, for no apparent reason, been instilled in many MPs, and as a result, Salisbury Steak struggled with the Commons leader Sir Stafford Northcote, winner of the Poshest Name In Christendom Award 1883; a struggle in which Salisbury eventually emerged as the leading figure after Northcote suddenly perished from a facial wound Salisbury became Prime Minister of a minority administration from 1885 to 1886. Although unable to accomplish much due to his lack of a Parliamentary majority - including his ambition to create a universal language called English, like it or fuck off - the split of the Liberals over Irish Home Rule in 1886 (often attributed to beard related disappearances of several Liberal MPs) enabled him to return to power with a majority , and to serve as Prime Minister from 1886 to 1892 and 1895-1902, beard and all. Salisbury now hoped that an entire country would follow him down his bearded route.

In 1888, the year of Jack the Ripper the absence of Salisbury from Parliament was notable, as was the beard-related circumstances surrounding the deaths of them slappers what got done in. Questions were asked, some answers were supplied but Salisbury continued. He was not so much as part of the political landscape, he was the political landscape. edit Later Years (Old Beardy Ponce) In 1889 Salisbury set up the London County Council after losing a bet that he couldn't "shut up and shove your head up your arse you beardy tosser" and then in 1890 allowed it to build houses in Dover, for no discernable reason other than a front for his frequent 'baccy runs to Calais. However he came to regret this, saying in November 1894 that the LCC, "is the place where collectivist and socialistic experiments are tried. It is the place where a new revolutionary spirit finds its instruments and collects its arms. They're a right shower of bastards!". Many historian's now attribute this outburst to an LCC tax on imported cigarettes.

Also in 1889 Salisbury's Government passed the Naval Defence Act 1889 which facilitated the spending of an extra £20 million on the Royal Navy over the following four years. Of the Act, Salisbury was heard to remark "Cooo-eee! Hello Sailor! Oooh, get you duckie! How's the extra cash suiting you girls? You BITCH!" This was the biggest ever expansion of the navy in peacetime: ten new battleships, thirty-eight new cruisers, eighteen new torpedo boats, four new fast gunboats and forty-seven new cruise ships were created, many including regular Bette Middler numbers. Traditionally Britain had possessed a navy one-third larger than their nearest naval rival, two thirds the size of the next biggest which was one third the size of its own seconds which was two times bigger than a navy half its size or not. However, now the Royal Navy was set to the Two-Pac Standard; that it would be maintained "to a standard of strength equivalent to that of the combined forces of the next two biggest navies in the world, and if you don't like it, I've way's of dealing with you, duckie!". This was aimed at France and Russia.

And anyone who got on the wrong side of rump Sirloin Steak. The cheeky twats. Salisbury's expertise was in foreign affairs, a delicate mixture of diplomacy and extreme, beard related violence. For most of his time as Prime Minister he served not as First Lord of the Treasure Chest, Jim Lad , the traditional position held by the Prime Minister, but as Foreign Secretary. In that capacity, he skilfully managed Britain's foreign affairs, famously pursuing a policy of "Splendid Isolation" by refusing to talk to anyone with a different accent; skin colour; currency; or regional hat. Among the important events of his premierships was the Partition of Africa (with knifes), culminating in the John Fashanu Crisis and the Second Boring War , which was a bit shit compared to the First One. While at home he sought to "fight Home Rule with kindness (and beard related coercion)" by launching a land reform programme which helped hundreds of thousands of Irish peasants gain land ownership. Or get shot, their choice. Well, not really.

Following Salisbury's death, his beard pursued a controversial solo career On 11 July 1902 , in failing health and broken hearted over the death of his beard, Salisbury resigned. He was succeeded by his nephew, Arthur Balfour. Salisbury was twice offered a dukedom by Queen Victoria in 1886 and 1892, but declined both offers, citing the prohibitive cost of the lifestyle dukes were expected to maintain and Harry the Bastard would break both his legs if he found out Salisbury was earning that kind of money. Salisbury died suddenly in 1903, in a beard related incident which has yet to be explained. For the religious among us who choose to believe lies, the self-proclaimed experts at Wikipedia have an article very remotely related to Lord Salisbury . Lord Salisbury - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on Lord Salisbury Wikis Arthur James Balfour Lord Salisbury: Wikis Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Lord Salisbury" redirects here.

For other holders of the title, see Marquess of Salisbury .

25 June 1895 – 11 July 1902 Monarch 25 July 1886 – 11 August 1892 Monarch 23 June 1885 – 28 January 1886 Monarch 2 April 1878 – 28 April 1880 Monarch 24 June 1885 – 6 February 1886 Monarch 14 January 1887 – 11 August 1892 Monarch 29 June 1895 – 12 November 1900 Monarch 22 August 1903 (aged 73) Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Anglican Signature Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG , GCVO , PC (3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), known as Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and as Viscount Cranborne from 1865 until 1868, was a British statesman and thrice Prime

 Minister , serving for a total of over 13 years.

He was the first British Prime Minister of the 20th century and the last Prime Minister to head his full administration from the House of Lords. Contents 10 External links Life Lord Robert Cecil was the second son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury . After an unhappy childhood, in which he was sent to Eton College , he went up to Christ Church, Oxford , and on taking his degree was elected a Fellow of All Souls College . He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative in 1853, as MP for Stamford in Lincolnshire . He retained this seat until entering the peerage. In 1866 Lord Robert, now Viscount Cranborne after the death of his older brother, Salisbury entered the third government of Lord Derby as Secretary of State for India . He resigned the next year over the Reform Bill , which he opposed. In 1868, on the death of his father, he inherited the Marquessate of Salisbury , thereby becoming a member of the House of Lords . From 1868 and 1871, he was chairman of the Great Eastern Railway , which was then experiencing losses.

During his tenure, the company was taken out of chancery , and paid out a small dividend on its ordinary shares. He returned to government in 1874, serving once again as India Secretary in the government of Benjamin Disraeli . Salisbury gradually developed a good relationship with Disraeli, whom he had previously disliked and distrusted. In 1878, Salisbury succeeded Lord Derby (son of the former Prime Minister) as Foreign Secretary in time to help lead Britain to "peace with honour" at the Congress of Berlin . For this he was rewarded with the Order of the Garter . Following Disraeli's death in 1881, the Conservatives entered a period of turmoil. Salisbury became the leader of the Conservative members of the House of Lords, though the overall leadership of the party was not formally allocated. So he struggled with the Commons leader Sir Stafford Northcote , a struggle in which Salisbury eventually emerged as the leading figure. He became Prime Minister of a minority administration from 1885 to 1886.

Although unable to accomplish much due to his lack of a parliamentary majority, the split of the Liberals over Irish Home Rule in 1886 enabled him to return to power with a majority, and, excepting a Liberal minority government (1892–1895), to serve as Prime Minister from 1886 to 1902. In 1889 Salisbury set up the London County Council and then in 1890 allowed it to build houses. However he came to regret this, saying in November 1894 that the LCC, "is the place where collectivist and socialistic experiments are tried. It is the place where a new revolutionary spirit finds its instruments and collects its arms". [1] Also in 1889 Salisbury's Government passed the Naval Defence Act 1889 which facilitated the spending of an extra £20 million on the Royal Navy over the following four years. This was the biggest ever expansion of the navy in peacetime: ten new battleships , thirty-eight new cruisers , eighteen new torpedo boats and four new fast gunboats .

Traditionally (since the Battle of Trafalgar ) Britain had possessed a navy one-third larger than their nearest naval rival but now the Royal Navy was set to the Two-Power Standard ; that it would be maintained "to a standard of strength equivalent to that of the combined forces of the next two biggest navies in the world". [2] This was aimed at France and Russia. Salisbury's expertise was in foreign affairs. For most of his time as Prime Minister he served not as First Lord of the Treasury , the traditional position held by the Prime Minister, but as Foreign Secretary . In that capacity, he managed Britain's foreign affairs, famously pursuing a policy of " Splendid Isolation ". Among the important events of his premierships was the Partition of Africa , culminating in the Fashoda Crisis and the Second Boer War . At home he sought to "fight Home Rule with kindness" by launching a land reform programme which helped hundreds of thousands of Irish peasants gain land ownership. On 11 July 1902, in failing health and broken hearted over the death of his wife, Salisbury resigned. He was succeeded by his nephew, Arthur James Balfour .

Salisbury was offered a dukedom by Queen Victoria in 1886 and 1892, but declined both offers, citing the prohibitive cost of the lifestyle dukes were expected to maintain. When Salisbury died his estate was probated at 310,336 pounds sterling. In 1900 Salisbury was worth £ 6.56 million, about £374 million in 2005. Legacy Salisbury is seen as an icon of traditional, aristocratic conservatism. The academic quarterly Salisbury Review was named in his honour upon its founding in 1982. Clement Attlee (Labour Party Prime Minister, 1945-1951) believed Salisbury to be the best Prime Minister of his lifetime. [3] After the Bering Sea Arbitration , Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Sparrow David Thompson said of Lord Salisbury's acceptance of the Arbitration Treaty that it was "one of the worst acts of what I regard as a very stupid and worthless life." [4] In 1886, Salisbury remarked that the British public would not accept a "black man", such as the Indian Dadabhai Naoroji as an MP .

The British phrase ' Bob's your uncle ' is thought to have derived from Robert Cecil's appointment of his nephew, Arthur Balfour , as Minister for Ireland . Family Lord Salisbury was the second son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury , a minor Conservative politician. In 1857, he defied his father and married Georgina Alderson . She was the daughter of Sir Edward Alderson , a moderately notable jurist and so of much lower social standing than the Cecils. The marriage proved a happy one. Robert and Georgina had eight children, all but one of whom survived infancy. Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830-1903) Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830-1903) Marjie Bloy , Ph.

D., Senior Research Fellow, the Victorian Web [ Victorian Web Home —> Political History —> Prime Ministers ] Robert Gascoyne-Cecil served three times as Prime Minister: from 23 June 1885 to 28 January 1886; from 25 July 1886 to 11 August 1892; and from 25 June 1895 to 11 July 1902 The third son and fifth child of six of James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil and his first wife Frances Mary Gascoyne, he was born on 3 February 1830 at Hatfield House. However, their second son died at the age of two, leaving Salisbury effectively as the second son. The family was descended from the first Lord Salisbury, the son of Lord Burghley who was Elizabeth I's minister. Salisbury was educated by a private tutor and briefly attended a boarding school near Hatfield; between 1840 and 1845 he was a student at Eton but he was removed because of constant bullying and again had a private tutor at Hatfield.

In 1847 he was admitted to Christ Church, Oxford, and was awarded his Degree in 1850; in 1853 he obtained a fourth class Degree in maths and an MA in 1853. Between July 1851 and May 1853 he visited South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, and soon after his return was elected as MP for Stamford. He made his maiden speech in April 1854. On 11 July 1857 Salisbury married Georgina Alderson, the daughter of a judge, despite his father's opposition. Consequently, his father refused to increase his son's allowance and Salisbury was obliged to become a journalist to earn enough money to keep his family. He wrote articles on a regular basis for Bentley's Review and the Tory periodical the Quarterly Review. In April 1850 he entered Lincoln's Inn, but his financial situation did not become secure until the death of his elder brother in 1865 at which point Salisbury took the courtesy title of Viscount Cranbourne and became heir to the wealth and estates of his family. Hatfield House in Hertfordshire: the home of the Cecil family.

In July 1866 he was appointed as Secretary of State for India in Lord Derby 's third ministry and was also made a Privy Counsellor; however, he resigned from the government in March 1867 because he opposed the extension of the franchise proposed in Disraeli 's second Reform Bill. In March 1868 he spoke against Gladstone 's proposal for the disestablishment of the Irish Church; it proved to be his last speech in the Commons because his father died the next month and Salisbury succeeded to the title and a seat in the House of Lords. In the general election of 1874 the Tories won a majority, and Disraeli became PM; Salisbury was appointed as Secretary of State for India once again although relations between the two men were not always easy. In December 1876 Salisbury was sent as Britain's representative to the Six Powers' conference on the Eastern Question in Constantinople [Istanbul]. Although the conference ended in the failure of the Powers to find a solution, it was clear that Salisbury had made a good impression on other European leaders.

On the resignation of Lord Derby in April 1878, Salisbury was appointed as Britain's Foreign Secretary but before he took up his post formally, he issued the 'Salisbury Circular' to other European powers on why the treaty of San Stefano — agreed between the Ottoman Empire and Russia — should not be accepted by Europe. Consequently, the Congress of Berlin met between 13 June and 13 July 1878, hosted by Prussia under the auspices of Count Otto von Bismarck. Salisbury and Disraeli, who attended on behalf of Britain, claimed to have returned with 'peace with honour' for Britain following the signing of the treaty that supposedly settled the problems in the Balkans. For his efforts, Salisbury was created a Knight of the Garter. On the death of Disraeli in 1880, Salisbury assumed leadership of the parliamentary opposition in the House of Lords to Gladstone's Liberal Government. The same role in the Commons was filled by Sir Stafford Northcote: the two men were deemed to be a dual leadership of the Conservative Party in the country.

In October 1883 Salisbury published (anonymously but recognisably) an article in the Quarterly Review on the dangers of radicalism: this was during the process of framing the third Reform Bill. Gladstone's government was brought down on a vote over the Budget and Salisbury accepted office as PM on 23 June 1885. He then decided to take on the role of Foreign Secretary as well. In the December general election he failed to win a majority: the results were as follows: Liberals — 335 Conservatives —249 Irish Nationalists —86 Shortly afterwards the government was defeated over the issue of the 'three acres and a cow' amendment to the Queen's Speech on 28 January 1886. The reality of the debate was not on whether every person should be entitled to the 'three acres and a cow' but on whether Ireland should be granted Home Rule. However, Salisbury returned to power within the year, following the defeat of Gladstone's bill for Irish Home Rule with his party reinforced by the addition of Joseph Chamberlain's "Liberal Unionists": Liberals who opposed Gladstone's attempts to give home rule to Ireland.

Salisbury's Chancellor of the Exchequer was Lord Randolph Churchill — father of Winston Churchill — nother unpredictable ally. Salisbury was reported as saying, 'I have four departments —the Prime Minister's, the Foreign Office, the Queen and Randolph Churchill; the burden of them increases in that order'. In December 1886 Churchill resigned after a series of differences with Salisbury: it is thought that he did not expect his resignation to be accepted and was most surprised when it was. Salisbury's habit of appointing his family to positions of power is thought to have been the origin of the expression, "Bob's your uncle": in 1887 he appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour as Chief Secretary of Ireland. In 1888 the government passed the Local Government Act, which created County Councils that were responsible for local administration. The following year the British South Africa Company was granted a Royal Charter to colonise an area in central east Africa that ultimately became Rhodesia with its capital at Salisbury [now Zimbabwe and Harare respectively]. Salisbury attempted to avoid alignments in European affairs, maintaining the policy of what was later called splendid isolation. Colonial affairs, however, brought difficulties with some of the European powers.

an Anglo-German agreement in 1890 resolved conflicting claims in East Africa: by the agreement, Great Britain received Zanzibar and Uganda in exchange for Heligoland a treaty with Portugal in 1891 gave Britain further rights in East Africa. the Fashoda Incident of 1898 brought Britain and France to the verge of war but ended in a diplomatic victory for Britain. difficulties with the Boers-Dutch settlers in southern Africa who had attempted to escape from British rule-resulted in the Boer War of 1899--1902 Salisbury conciliated the United States at the time of the Venezuela Boundary Dispute (1895) the Spanish-American War the Panama negotiations In 1891 his government passed an Education Act that introduced free elementary education but the general election of 1892 resulted in a small majority for the Liberals; Salisbury resigned and Gladstone formed his fourth and last ministry, retiring finally in March 1894 to give way to Lord Rosebery .

Rosebery's ministry was defeated in 1895 on a vote on the Army Estimates and Salisbury formed a coalition government with the Duke of Devonshire and Joseph Chamberlain until an election could be held. Chamberlain had taken a substantial number of Liberal MPs over to the ranks of the Conservatives because they disagreed with Gladstone's attempts to give Home Rule to Ireland. Having split the Liberal Party in the 1880s, Chamberlain went on to do the same to the Conservative and Unionist Party in 1903. This ministry passed the Workmen's Compensation Act in 1897 and a Local Government Act for Ireland in 1898. In the reconstructed administration of 1900 there were so many of Salisbury's relations holding office that it was nicknamed the 'Hotel Cecil'. During this part of the ministry, relations with the Boers living in the South African Republic (the Transvaal and the Orange Free State) deteriorated over the rights of the "foreigners" to vote: Paul Kruger had no intention of allowing the Boers to be outnumbered by other settlers.

In October 1899 the Boer War broke out, ending only in May 1902 with the Treaty of Vereenging. As his health failed, Salisbury handed over the Foreign Office to Lord Lansdowne; in July 1902 he resigned as PM on the grounds of ill health and was succeeded by his nephew, Arthur Balfour. Salisbury died on 22 August 1903 at Hatfield House. He was 73 years old. Recommended Reading Cecil, D. The Cecils of Hatfield House. London, 1973. Kennedy, AL. Salisbury 1830-1903: Portrait of a Statesman. London, 1953. Roberts, Andrew. Salisbury, Victorian Titan. 1st ed. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999. Now available in paperback from Faber, 2010. 984pp. [ Reviewed by Joe Pilling] Taylor, R. Lord Salisbury. London, 1975.

History of Arthur James Balfour - GOV.UK GOV.UK Arthur James Balfour Conservative 1902 to 1905 Born 25 July 1848, Whittingehame, East Lothian Died 19 March 1930, Fisher’s Hill, Woking, Surrey Dates in office Conservative Major acts Unemployed Workmen Act 1905: established Distress Committees to give out single grants to businesses or local authorities in order to allow them to hire more workers to decrease the number of unemployed. Education Act 1902: abolished school boards and handed over their duties to local borough or county council, as Local Education Authorities. Interesting facts Balfour was the nephew of the previous Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury. He is perhaps best known for authoring the ‘Balfour Declaration’ of 1917, when he was serving as Foreign Secretary, which supported the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. “I am more or less happy when being praised, not very comfortable when being abused, but I have moments of uneasiness when being explained.” Arthur James Balfour succeeded his uncle, Lord Salisbury , who had been his political mentor and champion.

However, his initial interests were not political. He enjoyed music and poetry, and was first known as a renowned philosopher, publishing ‘A Defence of Philosophic Doubt’, ‘The Foundations of Belief’ and ‘Theism and Humanism’. In 1874 he was elected the Conservative Member of Parliament for Hertford. Four years later he became private secretary to Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Lord Salisbury , then Foreign Secretary in Benjamin Disraeli The Earl of Beaconsfield ’s government. In 1885 Balfour was a member of Randolph Churchill’s ‘Fourth Party’ group (distinct from the Conservatives, Liberals and Irish Nationalists), which brought down William Ewart Gladstone ’s government with a motion opposing the Home Rule for Ireland Bill. It was thought that Balfour was merely entertaining himself with politics – indeed the House did not take him quite seriously. Members looked upon him as just a young member of the governing classes who remained in the House because it was the proper thing for a man of family to do. Later on he joined the Cabinet as Secretary for Scotland and then for Ireland under Lord Salisbury.

Despite widespread doubt that he was up to the demanding job of Irish Secretary, Balfour proved to be a tough incumbent, restoring the rule of law. His land development legislation was considered well-judged and has been credited with calming the Irish conflict for a generation. In 1891 Balfour became First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the Commons. He regained the same positions on the Conservatives’ re-election in 1895. When Lord Salisbury retired, Balfour became Prime Minister, but his cabinet split on the free trade issue and his relations with the king were poor. Defeats in the Commons and in by-elections led to his resignation in December 1905. In the Liberal landslide that followed, Balfour lost his own seat but returned via a by-election soon after. He continued to lead his party until 1911 but, despite stepping down, his career was far from over and he became First Lord of the Admiralty in the wartime coalition, then Foreign Secretary.

At this time he wrote a letter, which has become known as the Balfour Declaration, stating the government’s view to “favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” on the understanding that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” For the greater part of the 1920s he was Lord President of the Council until Stanley Baldwin ’s government fell in 1929. He had always been a delicate and poorly man and he died the following year from circulatory failure. Help us improve GOV.UK Balfour a Leader for Half a Century Balfour a Leader for Half a Century By THE NEW YORK TIMES The death of the Earl of Balfour puts an end to a career which for distinction and length of service has few equals in modern English history. At the Congress of 1878 in Berlin, he was already well known as a promising young statesman. Long after all the other participants in that congress were dead, Balfour was Lord President of the Privy Council and playing tennis and golf in his seventy-ninth year.

The one English statesman with whom his name was continuously linked, and whose career covered the same period, was the late Earl of Oxford and Asquith. Again and again Lord Balfour's political career seemed to have ended. It started languidly enough when, as a bored semi-invalid, he sat in the House of Commons, sucking a thermometer and taking it out now and then to note his temperature. He was called "Miss Nancy" Balfour in those days. Later he was to be called "Bloody" Balfour. He showed a hardihood in weathering political storms that brought H. G. Wells to write in 1926 of "that damned madonna lily; he grows where he is planted." Lord Balfour was a statesman almost in spite of himself. By inclination he was the philosopher, the esthete, the thinker, the cultured gentleman of leisure, spending his life among the books and music he loved and knew so well. When at the height of his career as Prime Minister he said: "Give me my books, my golf clubs and my leisure, and I would ask for nothing more.

My ideal in life is to read a lot, write a little, play plenty of golf and have nothing to worry about. If I could give up politics without disorganizing things or neglecting my duty, I would gladly do so." At another time he said: "I would rather be known as having added something to our knowledge of truth and nature than for anything else I can imagine." The Philosopher in Politics That love of philosophy threw an aureole about his life that set him apart both from the ordinary statesmen and from the great mass of people with whom, as a politician, he should have been in close contact. The background of his life was philosophy, and out of it his political conduct and theories emerged without ever losing contact. His mind was that of a subtle, analytical thinker meeting each new problem as a trained logician dealing with abstract ideas, not with people. He was any man's match in a debate, but many a lesser public figure could sway a crowd with oratory where Lord Balfour would have little effect. Although he was intimately connected with British politics for over half a century, he always gave the impression of a man who had withdrawn within himself.

It was a case where appearances were deceptive, but because of that attitude he never really caught the public fancy, and there is no public figure in England of this century who aroused so little hatred or so little love. To most of the British people he was an abstraction, a paradox, an enigma that they could not solve. When they heard him speak it was only to feel more deeply puzzled. His voice was smooth and he could be eloquent, but it was said of him that "you seldom know what Balfour means." The very keenness of his mind led him into metaphysical subtleties. He saw, as his philosophic master Hegel did, the antithesis of every point that was being made. His sentences were involved and often trailed off ungrammatically without a closing period. During his Premiership he made speech after speech on the tariff policy without ever committing himself to anything definite. "As an intellectual feat it is unparalleled," one observer said at the time, but it did not serve to make him popular. He lacked the fire and conviction that made so powerful an orator of Lloyd George. Like Asquith, he was too much the aristocrat and too undemocratic in his theories to appeal to the many.

It was in debate that his oratorical abilities were at their best. His probing mind, his caustic wit, his dialectical ingenuity, and with it all his polished, urbane temper and bearing, made him a dreaded opponent in Parliamentary strife. Sprang From Old Scottish Family Arthur James Balfour was marked for politics from birth, for he was one of "the family." His mother was Lady Blanche Cecil, the sister of the third Marquess of Salisbury, who played so prominent a part in nineteenth century politics. His father was James Maitland Balfour, the head of the cadet branch of an old Scotch family, Balfour of Balfour, so called from the seat of the family at Balfour Castle in Fife. The future Earl was born July 25, 1848, the oldest of eight children, five boys and three girls. His father died when he was 9 years old and his mother when he was 24. The family lived at Whittingehame, in Haddingtonshire, Scotland.

After receiving his education at Eton, where he was "fag" to Lord Lansdowne, who was destined to be Foreign Minister in his Cabinet, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he entered Parliament at the suggestion of his uncle, the Marquess of Salisbury, as representative of the family borough of Hertford. Already his languid air and apparent physical frailty had earned him the sort of raillery he was to suffer from all his life. In Cambridge they called him "Miss Nancy." When he first entered Parliament he was "Miss Balfour." His opponents made much of the fact that he had been one of "The Souls," that exclusive group headed by the late Lord Curzon. His health was so delicate that it was a question whether he would not have to spend his Winters in Egypt and forego any idea of a political career. As an M.P. he was not a particular success. His maiden speech was not delivered until his third session in the House, and then it was on the characteristically abstruse topic of bimetalism.

His real career began in 1878, when his uncle succeeded Lord Derby as Foreign Minister, and took the young man with him to Berlin as his secretary at the notable congress over which Prince Bismarck presided and which changed the map of Europe. It was just after the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War, which had involved most of the Balkan States and Asia Minor. Lord Beaconsfield, the Prime Minister, headed the British delegation, with Lord Russell and Lord Salisbury as plenipotentiaries, and it was under them that Balfour received his first important lessons in diplomacy. He returned to join in a half-hearted way the famous Fourth party, which was composed of four men: Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond-Wolff, John Gorst and himself as the least important. Their chief political reason for existence was to form an opposition against Gladstone, and they spent most of their time in Parliament baiting him. In 1884 the party broke up, and two years later the Marquess of Salisbury made his nephew Chief Secretary for Scotland. As Chief Secretary for Ireland A year later came his first important political job, and the most hectic position he held in his long career.

In March, 1887, he became Chief Secretary for Ireland. It was a critical period in imperial politics as regards Ireland. Parnell was then leading the violent forces that were agitating for Home Rule, and the debates in the House were bitter. Balfour's appointment was received literally with guffaws of laughter. The "silk-skinned sybarite," "Pretty Fanny," "Clara" Balfour, was going to undertake a job at which the strongest men had failed. A little later he gave the order to shoot down rioters without hesitation, and the epithets were changed to "Bloody Balfour" and "Bomba Balfour." Impervious alike to the personal danger he ran and the attacks made upon him on the floor of the House, he went relentlessly on his way, employing the coercive measures of the typical Conservative of that day. He was an aristocrat who did not believe in popular government, and he considered the Irish politically inferior to the English. "They have great gifts," he said at the time. "They have wit, imagination, eloquence, valor; in many respects they are our superiors.

But in one respect they are our inferiors and no amount of Gladstonian rhetoric can make them otherwise. They are politically incapable of self- government." When he returned to the House in 1891 it was to take up the leadership of the Unionist or Conservative party and to be First Lord of the Treasury. His party did not remain in power long, and Balfour found himself leader of the Opposition. In 1895 the Unionists again had a majority, and from then until 1902 Balfour led them. In 1898, when Lord Salisbury was ill, he took over the work of his uncle as Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and when his uncle resigned in 1902 while Prime Minister, Balfour succeeded him in that position. Issues of His Premiership His Premiership is generally not considered a success. The one great accomplishment during his tenure of office was the negotiating of the alliance with Russia, Japan and France, the so-called "iron ring" around Germany, which she tried to break in the World War. Balfour's part in the negotiations was probably not as great as that of Delcasse in France, but it is generally believed to have been important.

His government lasted three years, and much of the last half of that time was spent in trying to avoid a break on the government's tariff policy. Balfour's Colonial Secretary was Joseph Chamberlain, who urged a policy of protection. Balfour had always been a free-trade advocate, and he was faced with the necessity of dodging the tariff issue or repudiating Chamberlain. He chose the former policy and for fully a year his opponents were unable to get a definite expression of opinion out of him on tariff policy. The supporters of Chamberlain within the Unionist party and all the imperialistic "die-hards" finally formed an opposition that put the Liberals in power. Their slogan was "B. M. G.," meaning "Balfour must go." At the next general election the Unionist party was overwhelmingly defeated, and Balfour himself was hopelessly beaten in North-East Manchester, a seat which he had held for twenty years. He was subsequently elected for the City of London on the resignation of Sir Edward Clarke and regained his leadership of the Conservative forces; but his star remained in eclipse. The old slogan, "B. M.

G.," was still in force, and in 1911 he renounced the leadership of his party. He gave as reasons his advanced age and the increasing need of leisure, not dreaming of the part he was still to play in his country's history. Sought American Support in War More than any other man in England, with the notable exception of Lord Roberts, he had advocated preparation for an inevitable world conflict. Back in 1903, while he was still Premier, he created the Commission of Imperial Defense, under which pre-war mobilization was carried out and plans made on the declaration of war to send expeditionary forces to France. He early saw the necessity of gaining American support for the Allies. He became First Lord of the Admiralty in the Coalition Cabinet of 1915, and Foreign Secretary in 1916. In April, 1917, he came to the United States as head of the British High Commission, just after this country had declared war. While the situation at the time gave added vigor to his advocacy of friendship between the two countries, Balfour could claim with justice that he had always believed in the necessity of Anglo- American cooperation.

As far back as 1895 he had said: "The time will come, must come, when some one, some statesman of authority more fortunate even than President Monroe, will lay down the doctrine that between English-speaking peoples war is impossible." After the war, Balfour was one of the British delegates to the peace conference, and a firm supporter of the League of Nations, which was soon formed. He played a secondary role to Lloyd George, and his name was prominently connected only with the negotiations by which Shantung was ceded to Japan. The Chinese have always held him responsible for that part of the treaty. In the post-bellum deliberations at San Remo, Hythe, Brussels, San Sebastian, Rome, London, Geneva and other places, Balfour played an important part, although not a very conspicuous one. In October, 1921, he made a second notable visit to America as head of the British delegation to the Washington Arms Conference. He worked hard to cooperate with the other delegations, and accepted in principle Secretary Hughes's proposal for curtailing naval forces. His proposal to abolish submarines, however, was opposed by France and Italy.

When he returned to England he was offered a peerage for the third or fourth time, and again declined. But soon afterward he was made Knight of the Garter, and in March, 1922, entered the House of Lords with the title of Earl of Balfour and Viscount Traprain of Whittingehame. Give Impetus to Zionist Plan In 1922 Lord Balfour formulated a plan for the payment of the French war debt to England, which was accepted in principle three years later, by which the British Government would collect money to enable it to pay the war debt to the United States. He was President of the Commission on Trade and Industries of the League of Nations, and a member of the International Chamber of Commerce. He was the strongest and most influential advocate of Zionism which that movement had. His interest in Zionism started in 1917 when he made a much-discussed speech which came to be known as the Balfour declaration, advocating a national home for Jews in Palestine. His political enemies said he made the declaration for its effect on America and her participation in the war. Whether that was true or not, his interest developed and his sincerity after the war was never questioned.

The Balfour declaration soon became the recognized standard of Zionist ideals for Palestine, and it likewise was the basis of the organization of the Jewish Agency, composed of Zionists and non-Zionists, who met at Zurich, Switzerland, in the Summer of 1929 to form a cooperative body to advance the Jewish homeland ideal. The twelfth anniversary of his speech was celebrated nationally by Zionists on Nov. 4, 1929. In 1925 Lord Balfour visited Jerusalem to open the Hebrew University there. His attitude had aroused the ire of nationalist Arabs, and his trip to Palestine ended by his being spirited out of Damascus after a furious outburst on the part of an Arabian mob. In the same year he succeeded the late Lord Curzon as President of the Privy Council, under Prime Minister Baldwin. A year later came still another important post. When the Inter- Imperial Commission of the Imperial Conference in London was formed to reorganize the British Empire, he was appointed chairman. The resolution drafted by the commission in November, 1926, by which the Dominions of the empire were placed on a status of equality was signed by Balfour.

In 1927 he acted temporarily as Secretary of State for the Dominions, was Deputy Prime Minister while Mr. Baldwin made his visit to Canada, and fought hard, in London, to avert the failure of the Geneva Naval Conference. The famous statesman received, on his eightieth birthday, July 26, 1928, honors such as are accorded to few men. Party divisions and personal differences were put aside and the nation acclaimed him as one of its favorite sons. The new building of the British Academy, of which he was president, was dedicated on the preceding day at a function, attended by Lord Balfour, where the Prince of Wales paid the principal tribute to him. On the following day Lord Balfour received an expensive automobile as the gift of the members of Parliament. A sum that remained from the subscriptions also was set aside "as a reservoir whence you can draw the fines you'll undoubtedly have to pay." The cloud of ill health that soon was to force him to lessen his public activities had begun to settle over the venerable statesman several months before, when heart trouble had forced him to cancel many engagements.

He suffered also from laryngitis, and, as 1929 approached, his absences from the House of Lords became of longer duration. In April of that year his complete retirement was foreshadowed when it was learned that his famous town house was to be sold. This residence at 4 Carlton Gardens is probably second in political fame only to 10 Downing Street, official residence of the Prime Ministers of Great Britain. Built in 1825 by Adrian Hope, it was leased by Lord Palmerston, who lived there until he died. It was purchased by Mr. Balfour, from Hope's son, in 1871. Among its contents were Lord Balfour's collection of Chinese and Sevres porcelain, part of which also was catalogued for sale, and a series of paintings executed for him by Burne-Jones. His last years were devoted largely to the completion of his autobiography, dealing with the great men and events with which he had been associated during his long life. Balfour Never Married The Earl of Balfour never married. Various reasons have been given.

He was engaged in early life to Miss Mary Lyttleton, who died before they could marry, and, according to one report, he remained faithful to her memory. Others have pointed to his attachment for his charming and brilliant mother. Still others assert that his emotional life was absorbed in his intellectual pursuits. But these are all guesses. Very little of his private life was known to outsiders. In early life he aroused considerable discussion with a book called "A Defense of Philosophic Doubt," published in 1879, of which it was said that everybody talked about it and nobody read it. It was an attempt to lead mankind into the path of faith by showing the fallibility of human reasoning. However, Balfour was accused of agnosticism, and was called a skeptic until his next book, "The Foundations of Belief," was published in 1895. He wrote two other books on philosophy, "Criticism of Beauty" in 1909, and "Theism and Humanism," in 1914. He was a gifted musician, and was said to have played the piano with professional skill.

He once wrote an essay on the music of Handel, his favorite, and was the founder and President of the Handel Society. He was the first prominent Britisher to take up golf, and even wrote a book on the subject. His title of Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews was a proud possession. At tennis he was no less skillful. His interest in contemporary affairs was always keen. He was the first public man in England to ride in an airplane. At that time some wit said of him: "If they succeed in his lifetime in running a light railway to the moon, the first passenger in the guard's van will be Earl Balfour." ‘Unelected’ Prime Ministers: THE FACTS ‘Unelected’ Prime Ministers: THE FACTS Published on by Ian Gillies Bell Ex Cabinet Minister Lord Adonis once defended the possibility of having a new Labour Prime Minister insisting that it was “quite common” to have ‘unelected’ Prime Ministers in Britain. Lets cast our eye back to the start of the twentieth century to see how common ‘unelected’ Prime Ministers have been in British history. Analysis Since 1900 Britain has had 22 different Prime Ministers.

The list below shows that in that period there have been 14 occasions on which 13 different Prime Ministers have come to power other than through a general election. Year Arthur Balfour Conservative In some instances, the Prime Minister went to the country almost immediately to secure a mandate, as was the case with Sir Anthony Eden in 1955. However, there were many occasions when a Prime Minister who came to power midway through a parliamentary term led the country for a prolonged period without having won a general election as leader of their party. In the post-war period, John Major served for almost two years during the recession of the early 1990s before winning the 1992 general election. James Callaghan succeeded Harold Wilson as leader of the Labour party in 1976 and served as Prime Minister for three years and 29 days before being defeated by Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives in 1979. It now appears that Gordon Brown will join Mr Callaghan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who was in charge in 1963-64, as post-war British Prime Ministers who have never secured the mandate of the British public to lead the country. However, the constitutional position is clear.

Under Britain’s parliamentary system we do not directly elect Prime Ministers but choose to elect individual MPs from particular parties. It is the parties that decide their leader. It is the Queen who invites the individual best able to command the confidence of the House of Commons to be Prime Minister, usually the leader of the largest party. There is no constitutional requirement for the Prime Minister to have led his party through a general election to remain in office. Pre-war period A potted history of the period between 1900 and 1945 shows that having a change of Prime Minister without a general election was the norm, rather than the exception. In 1902, Arthur Balfour became Conservative Prime Minister after the retirement of his uncle Lord Salisbury. He served as Prime Minister for three years and 145 days before his resignation and left office without ever leading his party to victory in a general election. In 1905, Liberal leader Henry Campbell-Bannerman was asked to form a government following Balfour’s resignation. He went to the country in 1906 and the Liberals won a landslide victory. However, Herbert Asquith succeeded Mr Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister in 1908.

The election in 1910 returned a hung Parliament and Asquith, sitting in the House of Lords, remained Prime Minister until 1916. He was succeeded by fellow Liberal David Lloyd George who led a coalition government to victory in the First World War. After this, Mr Lloyd George went to the country and his coalition government won a huge majority in 1918. The election victory of the Conservatives in 1923 and the installation of Andrew Bonar-Law as Prime Minister ended a sequence of four Prime Ministers who came to power without a general election. However, the pattern quickly re-emerged. Mr Bonar-Law resigned after just 209 days in office and Stanley Baldwin then took over, the first of three stints in office. In the summer of 1935 Mr Baldwin became Prime Minister again at the head of the National Government after the resignation of Ramsey MacDonald. He went to the country in a general election just months later, winning a mandate. But Mr Baldwin did not stay in post for long. He was followed by Neville Chamberlain and then Winston Churchill.

From 1937 to 1945, Britain was guided through the tumultuous period of global crisis and war by leaders who had not been elected by the British people as Prime Minister. Mr Churchill did later win a popular mandate from the British people when he returned as Prime Minister in 1951; however this was 11 years after he first entered 10 Downing Street. Conclusion Lord Adonis was right to assert that it is quite common for Prime Ministers to come to power without having led their party through a general election. Recent British history shows that it is, in fact, remarkably common. Constitutionally there is nothing to prevent such a move happening. Whether it is seen as acceptable or legitimate by the British people is a judgement that the electorate will have to make themselves. Share this:

Question: When Lord Salisbury left office as Prime Minister in 1902, he was succeeded by his nephew. Who was that ?
Answer: ARTHUR BALFOUR