Henry Cecil, 1st Marquess of Exeter
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The Most Honourable The Marquess of Exeter |
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The Marquess of Exeter with his second wife, Sarah, and their daughter, Lady Sophia Cecil. By Thomas Lawrence.
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 March 1754 |
| Died | 1 May 1804 (aged 50) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Emma Vernon (2) Sarah Hoggins (1773-1797) (3) Elizabeth Burrell (1757-1837) |
Henry Cecil, 1st Marquess of Exeter (14 March 1754 – 1 May 1804), known as Henry Cecil from 1754 to 1793 and as The Earl of Exeter from 1793 to 1801, was a British peer and Member of Parliament.
Exeter was the son of the Hon. Thomas Chambers Cecil, second son of Brownlow Cecil, 8th Earl of Exeter. Thomas Chambers Cecil led a profligate life, and although for a time an MP he was forced to live abroad in Brussels, where he married Charlotte Garnier, a lady of uncertain origin, said by some to be a Basque dancer. When Henry was born in 1754 he was the heir presumptive to his uncle Brownlow Cecil, 9th Earl of Exeter, and for this reason was sent when still a baby to Burghley House to be brought up.
He attended Eton College and St John's College, Cambridge. In 1774, when still only 20, he was returned as MP for the family-controlled borough of Stamford, a seat he held until 1790. In 1793 he succeeded his uncle as tenth Earl of Exeter and entered the House of Lords. In February 1801 he was created Marquess of Exeter, the first marquessate to be created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. However, although Henry Cecil had wide interests, it is not recorded that he ever made much contribution to the House of Commons or the House of Lords.
Henry Cecil married, firstly, Emma Vernon, daughter of Thomas Vernon, of Hanbury Hall, in 1776. Emma was an heiress, and was able to add the considerable income from the Vernon estates in Worcestershire (her father had died in 1771) and elsewhere to her husband's own allowance, but despite having a large income the couple seem to have got into debt. They had one son born in 1777 who died aged two months, but no further children.
In the early years of his marriage Cecil devoted his energies to modernising and improving his residence at Hanbury Hall and the estates. An enclosure act for Hanbury was passed in 1781, and exchanges of land were made to consolidate the holdings so that they could be made into more economic farms with better rents.
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