Cecil
Cecil names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Cecil ROBERT (ses'il)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ROBERT (ses'il), Earl of Salisbury, an English statesman, second son of William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, born about 1563. He was of a weak constitution, on which account he was educated at home till his removal to the University of Cambridge. Having received the honor of knighthood he went to France as assistant to the English ambassador. On the death of Sir Francis Walsingham he succeeded him as principal secretary, and continued to be a confidential minister of Queen Elizabeth to the end of her reign. Having secretly supported the interests of James I. previous to his accession to the crown, he was continued in office under the new sovereign and raised to the peerage. In 1603 he was created a baron, in 1604 Viscount Cranbourn, and in 1605 Earl of Salisbury. In 1608 Lord Salisbury was made Lord High-Treasurer, an office which he held till his death, in 1612.
Cecil LORD ROBERT, a British statesman
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
LORD ROBERT, a British statesman; born Sept. 14, 1864. He was the third son of the Marquis of Salisbury and chose a diplomatic career, after having been educated at Eton and University College, Oxford. He was a member of Parliament from East Marylebone, 1906-1910; occupied various im- LORD ROBERT CECIL portant Cabinet positions during the World War and was an influential figure throughout the conflict. In 1915-1916 he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs; was made Minister of Blockade in 1916 and Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in he was one of the British delegates, and was especially prominent in preparing the draft of the League of Nations, of which he was an ardent advocate. He was an able speaker and a successful executive and administrator.
Cecil WILLIAM, LORD BUR- LEIGH
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
WILLIAM, LORD BUR- LEIGH. See BURLEIGH.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's could only follow Lord Robert Cecil's career to 1921, praising him as "an ardent advocate" of the League of Nations; he went on to spend three more decades on that cause, was made Viscount Cecil of Chelwood in 1923, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937, dying in 1958 at the age of 94 — having outlived the League itself, which dissolved in 1946, and seen the United Nations take its place. The Elizabethan Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, still fits the outline given here, though modern historians dwell far more on his management of the Gunpowder Plot investigation in 1605 and on the failed "Great Contract" of 1610 than Collier's brief notice suggests. His father's title, given here as Burleigh, is now conventionally spelled Burghley, and the family papers at Hatfield House remain a working archive for historians.
Written for this edition, 2026.