BROADWATER 



Robert Earl of Salisbury died in i6iz, and was 

 succeeded by his son William, who took the side of the 

 Parliament in the Civil War, and subsequently sat in 

 Cromwell's Lower House, though he had received a 

 ' marquessate ' by vote. 33 Charles I, while in the 

 custody of the army, was at Hatfield House at the end 

 of June 1647. 34 The Earl of Salisbury was, however, 

 reconciled to the king at the Restoration, and was 

 appointed high steward of St. Albans in 1 663- 36 He 

 died at Hatfield in December 1668, leaving as his heir 

 his grandson James, the son of his younger son Charles 

 Viscount Cranborne and Diana daughter and co-heir 

 of James Earl of Dirletoun. ac The third Earl of 

 Salisbury died in 1683 and was succeeded by his son 

 and namesake, who became a Roman Catholic and 

 was made high steward of Hertford by James II 

 in 1688." In the following year he was impeached, 

 but was discharged after two years' imprisonment. 

 He died in 171L3, 38 leaving as his heir his son James, 

 who died in 1728 and was succeeded by his son of the 

 same name, the sixth earl. 



With the seventh earl, a fifth James who succeeded 

 his father in 1 780, 39 began a revival of the political 

 traditions of the family. He had been M.P. for 

 Great Bedwyn for six years {1774-80) and was 

 elected for Launceston, when his father's death trans- 

 ferred him to the House of Lords 40 ; in the same year 

 he was made treasurer of the household and a privy 

 councillor. He was Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire 

 from 1 77 1 to 1823, 41 and from 177310 181 5 Colonel 

 of the county Militia. In this double capacity he 

 entertained King George III on the occasion of a 

 great review in June 1800. 42 'Their Majesties in a 

 post-chaise and four, and their Royal Highnesses the 

 Princess Augusta, the Princess Elizabeth and the 

 Princess Mary in a post-coach and four, attended by 

 the Countess of Harrington, arrived at Hatfield at ten 

 minutes before nine' in the morning on 13 June 

 and 'breakfasted in the summer dining-room.' The 

 review was held immediately after breakfast, and 

 ' His Majesty and Their Royal Highnesses passed the 

 highest encomiums on the appearance of the troops.' 43 

 Afterwards they ' walked on the lawn, and saw the 

 different corps march into the square where the tables 

 were laid for their reception ' and ' then adjourned 

 to the library and waited there until dinner was 

 ready ; when " The Roast Beef of Old England " was 

 played as they passed through the gallery.' 44 



The seventh Earl of Salisbury was created Marquess 

 24 August 1789 and four years later was elected 

 K.G. 4S He married in 1773 Mary Emilia Hill, 

 daughter of the Earl of Downshire, a sportswoman 

 whose fame is still remembered. 46 She played a 

 conspicuous part in the meetings of the Archery 

 Society 47 and was for many years Master of the Hat- 

 field Hounds, only resigning when, at the age of 

 seventy-eight, she found it wiser to go through gates 



nrumncn HATFIELD ob 



HUNDRED bishop's hatfield 



than to jump them 48 ; it is recorded of her that even 

 then she considered herself well able to hunt with the 

 harriers. She survived her husband and perished in 

 the great fire which burned the west wing of Hatfield 

 in 1835. 4 " James Brownlow William second Marquess 

 of Salisbury, who had taken by royal licence the sur- 

 name of Gascoyne before that of Cecil, on his marriage 

 to Miss Frances Mary Gascoyne of Childwall Hall, 

 Lancashire, in 1 82 i, M succeeded his father in 1823. 51 

 He had already been in Parliament ten years, as a mem- 

 ber for Weymouth from 1 8 1 3 to 1 8 1 7 and for Hert- 

 ford from 1817 to i8z3. fa From 1818 to 1827 he 

 was a commissioner for Indian affairs and was elected 

 K.G. in April 1842." He was visited at Hatfield in 

 1846 by the Queen and Prince Consort, in honour 

 of whose visit he placed new entrance gates of elaborate 

 French metal work to the park. 64 He was Lord Privy 

 Seal in 1852 and President of the Council 1858-9.* 6 

 He died in April 1868 and was buried at Hatfield. 1 * 

 Robert Arthur Talbot, his younger but eldest sur- 

 viving son, succeeded him as third marquess. He 

 had already achieved some political distinction, having 

 been M.P.for Stamford in four Parliaments (1 8 53-68) 

 and Secretary of State for India 1866-7," an office 

 which he resumed on the return of the Conservatives 

 to power in 1874. He was ambassador in 1876 to 

 the Conference at Constantinople and joint ambassador 

 to the Congress at Berlin in 1878 ; on his return from 

 this mission he received the order of the Garter. In 

 this year also he entered on that distinguished adminis- 

 tration of the Foreign Office which will always remain 

 his chief title to fame. In 1885 he became Prime 

 Minister, continuing as Foreign Secretary until 1886, 

 when he became First Lord of the Treasury. In the 

 following year, however, he resumed his work at the 

 Foreign Office, where he remained until the Conser- 

 vatives lost power in 1892 ; and on the return of his 

 party in 189; he again became Prime Minister and 

 Foreign Secretary, continuing in both offices until 

 1900, when he gave up the latter for the less arduous 

 duties of Lord Privy Seal. During this period Hatfield 

 became the scene of 'great official garden parties with 

 their strange congeries of Eastern statesmen, Indian 

 chiefs and Negro kings ; warriors and diplomatists ; 

 the great world of London ; the little world of the 

 country ; Tory members whom it was a duty to invite 

 and Radical members who were delighted to be 

 asked.' 68 One of the most important of these took 

 place in July 1887, when Queen Victoria and many 

 distinguished foreign visitors, who had come to England 

 for her Jubilee, were present. 63 The weather on this 

 occasion was beautiful, but the Hatfield garden parties 

 were not always fortunate in this respect, for the first 

 visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Crown 

 Prince and Princess of Germany in 1885 69s and that 

 of the Shah of Persia in 1 889 were overshadowed by 

 'sullen and menacing' or 'positively weeping skies. ' E&& 



C.H. HerrfirMire Families, 11. 

 /. S. P. Dam. 1645-7, ?■ 5^4- 

 C.H. Hertfordshire FamUiet, : it 



wit Evans Collection of Pamph- 

 t. Tickets granting admission to 

 . Park during (he review were 



issued by Lord Salisbury (ibid.), a prece- 

 dent which was followed by hia grandson 

 in favour of the Hatfield school children 

 and their elders on the occasion of Queen 

 Victoria's visit in her first Jubilee year 

 (/)..:/, Telegraph, 1 4 July 1887). 



53 Lewis Evans Collection, ui supra. 



" Ibid. 



« F.C.H. Hertfordshire Emilia, 121. 



« Ibid. 



* HmuCot. Mag.il, 13. 



43 V.C.H. HtrtfiTMirt Families, 111, 



is Ibid. 



ia Ibid. 



51 Daily Telegraph, 9 July 1889, 



K V.C.H. Hertfordshire Families,^, d 



™The Times, *4, Aug. 1905. 

 ss Daily Telegraph, 14 July 1887. 

 '■■'» The Graphk, 2; July 1S8;, 

 *» Daily Telegraph, 9 July 1B89. 



