Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter

Family

Thomas Cecil was the elder son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, by his first wife, Mary Cheke (died February 1543). He was the half-brother of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, Anne Cecil, and Elizabeth Cecil.

It has been said that William Cecil considered Thomas to be, "hardly fit to govern a tennis court". This quotation is both unproven and unfair. Whilst Thomas's career may have been overshadowed by those of his illustrious father and half-brother, he was a fine soldier, a useful politician and had a good deal of influence on the building, not only of Burghley itself, but also two other important houses: Wothorpe and Wimbledon Palace.

Career

Cecil was educated privately and at Trinity College, Cambridge.

He served in government under Elizabeth I of England, first serving in the House of Commons in 1563 and representing various constituencies for most of the time from then until 1593. He was knighted in 1575 and appointed High Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1578. He accompanied the Earl of Leicester to the Dutch Republic, where he was distinguished for his bravery. In 1585 he served as governor of Brielle - an English Cautionary Town. He did not have good relations with Leicester, but he was very loyal to Sir John Norreys. In 1584 and 1586 he was Member of Parliament for Lincolnshire, and once more in 1592 for Northamptonshire. His father's death in 1598 brought him a seat in the House of Lords, the 2nd Lord Burghley, as he then was, served from 1599 to 1603 as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire and Lord President of the Council of the North. It was during this period that Queen Elizabeth made him a Knight of the Garter in 1601. He was created Earl of Exeter on 4 May 1605, the same day his half-brother Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cranborne, was created 1st Earl of Salisbury. Unlike his brother, however, he did not become a government minister under James I.

The Cecil family fostered arts; they supported musicians such as William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and Thomas Robinson. The latter, in his youth, was in the service of Thomas Cecil.

Marriages and issue

Thomas Cecil married, firstly, Dorothy Neville, the daughter of John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer, by his wife, Lucy Somerset, daughter of Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester; and, secondly, Frances Brydges, the daughter of William Brydges, 4th Baron Chandos, of Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, and widow of the Master of Requests, Thomas Smith, of Abingdon, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), and Parson's Green, Middlesex.

By his first wife, Thomas Cecil had eleven children:

Lord Exeter is buried in the chapel of St John the Baptist, Westminster Abbey.