Prime Ministers · 19th century

Marquess of Salisbury

1830–1903 · British

Conservative

In office: 1885–1886; 1886–1892; 1895–1902

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, was Conservative prime minister three times between 1885 and 1902, serving over 13 years in all, and often doubled as his own Foreign Secretary. A descendant of Elizabeth I's minister Lord Burghley, he presided over the Scramble for Africa, Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and the Second Boer War. He was the last prime minister to govern from the House of Lords throughout his premiership, and was succeeded by his nephew Arthur Balfour.

How to spot them

▸Hatfield House; a Cecil descended from Lord Burghley; bearded Victorian peer
▸Combined the premiership with the Foreign Office; 'splendid isolation'
▸Uncle of Arthur Balfour, the supposed origin of 'Bob's your uncle'
▸Salisbury, capital of Rhodesia (now Harare), named after him
▸Last PM to sit in the Lords (apart from Lord Home's few days in 1963)

In office

Local Government Act 1888 creating elected county councils and the London County Council (1888)

The LCC first met in 1889 and lasted until 1965

Naval Defence Act 1889 and the 'two-power standard' (1889)

Royal Navy to be at least as strong as the next two largest navies (France and Russia) combined

Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty with Germany (1890)

Britain ceded Heligoland in return for German recognition of British interests in Zanzibar

Free Education Act abolishing fees for elementary schooling (1891)

Made elementary education effectively free in England and Wales

The Fashoda Incident (1898)

Anglo-French stand-off on the Upper Nile, resolved when France backed down

The 'khaki election' during the Second Boer War (1900)

Conservatives and Liberal Unionists re-elected amid wartime patriotism

'English policy is to float lazily downstream, occasionally putting out a diplomatic boathook' (19th century)

His famous description of British foreign policy

Key ideas

Cautious, sceptical conservatism: suspicious of democracy and franchise reform (he resigned from Derby's cabinet in 1867 over the Second Reform Act)
Foreign policy of avoiding binding European alliances, later labelled 'splendid isolation'
Negotiated the partition of much of Africa with other European powers around 1890–91

Quick-fire facts

•Born and died at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire (1830–1903)
•As Disraeli's Foreign Secretary he attended the Congress of Berlin in 1878
•Built a laboratory at Hatfield where he experimented with electricity
•Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1869
•Became Conservative leader after Disraeli's death in 1881
•Served under two monarchs, Victoria and Edward VII; resigned in 1902 and was succeeded by his nephew Balfour
•The Workmen's Compensation Act 1897 made employers liable for accidents at work

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Sources

GOV.UK — Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (Past Prime Ministers)
Andrew Roberts — Salisbury: Victorian Titan