Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 3.djvu/301

EXETER. 299 Earldom. l. <• Thomas Cecil, ( a ) K.G., Baron of IjUiigitlet, late I 1G05 Ltm r' res ' l ' ent °f the Council in the northern parts to Queen Eliza- beth, and to James I,"( h ) was 4 May 1G05,(>-) cv. EARL OF EXKTER( d ) He was 1st B. and h. of the celebrated statesman, William (Cecil), 1st Baron Buroiiley, being his only child by his first wife, Mary, da. of Peter CllKKE, of Piigo, Essex ; was b. 5 May 1512, at St. Mary's the Great, Cambridge; ed. at home, but sent to travel 1501 to 1503 ; M.P. for Stamford 1503-S1 ; for Lincolnshire, 15S5-S7, and for Northamptonshire, 1592-93; M.A., of Cambridge (of which Univ. his father was Chancellor) 30 Aug. 1571 ; was at the storming of Edinburgh, 2S May 1573; knighted by the Queen, at Keuilwortb, 18th July 1575, High Sheriff of co. Northampton, 1578 ; was Capt. of Horse in the wars in the low countries and Governor of Brill, 15S5-87 ; sue. his father (at whose funeral the Queen directed him "to mourn as an Earl,") as Baron Burijhlcy, 1 Aug. 1598, Lord Lieut, of co. York 1599—1003 ; Loud President of the Council of tueNortu, 1599—1003 ; Col. of the London Foot, 1001, in which capacity he contributed greatly to the suppression of the insurrection of the Earl of Essex ; KG., 23 April, being installed 20 .May 1601. On the accession of James I, he was made P.C., Lord Almoner for the Coronation, and Lord Lieut, of co. Northampton, all in 1003 and was 4 May 1005 (the same day on which his br. Robert was cr. Earl of Salisbury), er. Earl cf £.rc(O'( 0 ) as above stated. He m. firstly, if Nov. 1501, Dorothy, ( f ) 2d da. and coheir of John (Nevili.), 3d Lord Latimer, by Lucy, da. of Henry (Somerset), E.hl of Worcester. She (/. in London, 23 March 100S, and was bur. in Westm. Abbey.(s) He in. secondly, about 1010, Frances (3S years his junior), widow of Sir Thomas Smith (who rf. 28 Nov. 1009) da. of William (Brvdges) 4th Baron Chandos of Sidelev, by Mary, da. of Sir Owen Hoptox. He d. in London, 8 Feb. 1022/3, aged SO and was bur. the 10th at Westm. Abbey afsd. M.I. Will dat. 21 Nov. 1022, pr. II March 1022/3.( h ) His wi.low, who survived him 40 years, d. 1003, aged S3 and was bur. in Winchester Cathedral. M.I. Her Will pr. 1003. ( a ) Cecil is one of the 12 families treated of in Drummond's "Noble British Families." See vol. i, p. 77, note "a," sub "Alvanley." ( b ) See " Creations, 1183-1010," in ap. 47Ui Hep. D.K. Pub. Recorda. ( c ) On 1 May 1005, three Earls, one Viscount and four Barons were created, viz, the Earls of Exeter, Montgomery and Salisbury, the Viscount L'Isle and the Barons Cavendish of Hardwick, Carow of Cloptou, Arundell of Wardour and Stanhope of Harrington. ( J ) Dugdale (quoting Seidell's " Titles of honour,") writes that this creation "is observed to be the first precedent whereby it appears that any man was advanced to the title of Earl of the principal city, when another had the dignity of Earl of the same counly ; Charles Blount, being then Earl of Devonshire." This may be true but. if so, it does not apply (taking this case of Exeter for example) to a Dukedom of the city during the existence of an Earldom of the county. It does not appear that the Cecil family had any connection with Devon or Exeter, any more than the Cavendish family, who a dozen years later took the title of Devonshire had with that county. See p. 09, note "d," tub "Derby," as to titles of Earldoms from places or counties not apparently connected with tho grantees. (°) He appears to have declined an Earldom some 2 years before. See his letter 12 Jan. 1003 to Sir John Hobart, the Attorney Gen. in " Collins," vol. ii, p. 000. Perhaps the fact of his younger brother being about to be elevated to an Earldom, made him now change his mind. ( r ) " A curious document quoted in the 4th report of the Hist. MSS. Com., p. 125, appears to throw somo doubt upon the marriage of Thomas Cecil to Dorothy Nevili. The fact of the marriage is so certain that it is not worth while to discuss the matter." See Stephen's "Nat. Bioyr." («) No record of her burial is in the register, but this inscription on her coffin plate, in the Cecil vault, in St. John the Baptist chapel, was copied by Mr. Henry Poole, in June 1879. " Here lyeth tho body of Dorothe Nevili, Countes of Exeter, one of y° coheires of y° Lo. Latimer ; and verteous and dere wife to Thomas Cecyll, Earl of Exeter, who dyed 23 March 1603." That on her husband's coffin i>late is " Thomas, Comes Excestriie, obiit, Loudon, 8 Feb. 1622, anno ictatis smo 80." CO He was a liberal benefactor to Clare Hall, Cambridge ; was the founder of a Hospital for 12 poor men and 2 women at Lidrlington, co. Rutland, but, writes Dr.