Dominion Affairs again (1943-1945), and Leader of the Conservative Party in the House
of Lords (1942-1945).
Lord Salisbury's second son, Lord William Cecil (1863- ), was Rural Dean of Hertford
(1904-1916) and Bishop of Exeter (1916-1936), as well as chaplain to King Edward VII.
Lord Salisbury's third son, Lord Robert Cecil (Viscount Cecil of Chelwood since
1923), was an M.P. from 1906 to 1923 as well as Parliamentary Under Secretary for
Foreign Affairs (1915-1916), Assistant Secretary in the same department (1918), Minister
of Blockade (1916-1918), Lord Privy Seal (1923-1924), and Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster (1924-1927). He was one of the original drafters of the Covenant of the League
of Nations and was the Englishman most closely associated in the public mind with the
work of the League. For this work he received the Nobel Prize in 1937.
Lord Salisbury's fourth son, Lord Edward Cecil (1867-1918), was the one most
closely associated with Milner, and, in 1921, his widow married Milner. While Lord
Edward was besieged with Rhodes in Mafeking in 1900, Lady Cecil lived in close
contact with Milner and his Kindergarten. After the war, Lord Edward was Agent-
General of the Sudan (1903-1905), Under Secretary of Finance in Egypt (1905-1912),
and financial adviser to the Egyptian government (1912-1918). He was in complete
control of the Egyptian government during the interval between Kitchener's departure and
the arrival of Sir Henry McMahon as High Commissioner, and was the real power in
McMahon's administration (1914-1916). In 1894 he had married Violet Maxse, daughter
of Admiral Frederick Maxse and sister of General Sir Ivor Maxse. Sir Ivor, a good friend
of Milner's, was the husband of Mary Caroline Wyndham, daughter of Baron Leconfield
and niece of Lord Rosebery.
Lord Edward Cecil had a son and a daughter. The daughter, Helen Mary Cecil,
married Captain Alexander Hardinge in the same year (1921) in which she became
Milner's stepdaughter. Her husband was the heir of Baron Hardinge of Penshurst and a
cousin of Sir Arthur Hardinge. Both Hardinges were proteges of Lord Salisbury, as we
shall see.
The fifth son of Lord Salisbury was Lord Hugh Cecil (Baron Quickswood since
1941). He was a Member of Parliament for Greenwich (1895-1906) and for Oxford
University (1910-1937). He is now a Fellow of New College, after having been a Fellow
of Hertford for over fifty years.
The degree to which Lord Salisbury practiced nepotism can be seen by a look at his
third government (1895-1902) or its successor, Balfour's first government (1902-1905).
The Balfour government was nothing but a continuation of Salisbury's government, since,
as we have seen, Balfour was Salisbury's nephew and chief assistant and was made
premier in 1902 by his uncle. Salisbury was Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary;
Balfour was First Lord of the Treasury and Party Leader in Commons (1895-1902); his
brother, Gerald Balfour, was Chief Secretary for Ireland (1895-1900) and President of the
Board of Trade (1900-1905); their cousin-in-law Lord Selborne was Under Secretary for
the Colonies (1895-1900) and First Lord of the Admiralty (1905-1910). Arthur Balfour's
most intimate friend, and the man who would have been his brother-in-law except for his
sister's premature death in 1875 (an event which kept Balfour a bachelor for the rest of
his life), Alfred Lyttelton, was chairman of a mission to the Transvaal in 1900 and
Colonial Secretary (1903-1906). His older brother, Neville, was Assistant Military
Secretary in the War Office (1897-1898), Commander-in-Chief in South Africa under
Milner (1902-1904), and Chief of the General Staff (1904-1908). Another intimate friend
of Balfour's, George Wyndham, was Parliamentary Under Secretary for War (1898-1900)
and Chief Secretary for Ireland (1900-1905). St. John Brodrick (later Lord Midleton), a
classmate of Milner's, brother-in-law of P. L. Gell and son-in-law of the Earl of Wemyss,
was Under Secretary for War (1895-1898), Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs (1898-
1900), Secretary of State for War (1900-1903), and Secretary of State for India (1903-
1905). James Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, Lord Salisbury's heir, was Under Secretary for
Foreign Affairs (1900-1903) and Lord Privy Seal (1903-1905). Evelyn Cecil (Sir Evelyn
since 1922), nephew of Lord Salisbury, was private secretary to his uncle (1895-1902).
Walter Long (later Lord Long), a creation of Salisbury's, was President of the Board of
Agriculture (1895-1900), President of the Local Government Board (1900-1905), and
Chief Secretary for Ireland (1905-1906). George N. Curzon, (later Lord Curzon) a Fellow
of All Souls, ax-secretary and protege of Lord Salisbury, was Under Secretary for
Foreign Affairs (1895-1898) and Viceroy of India (1899-1905).
In addition to these personal appointees of Lord Salisbury, this government had the
leaders of the Unionist Party, which had split off from the Liberal Party in the fight over
Home Rule in 1886. These included the eighth Duke of Devonshire and his nephew, the
Marquess of Hartington (the Cavendish family), the latter's father-in-law (Lord
Lansdowne), Goschen, and Joseph Chamberlain. The Duke of Devonshire was Lord
President of the Council (1895-1903); his nephew and heir was Treasurer of 11.M.
Household (1900-1903) and Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1903-1905). The latter's
father-in-law, Lord Lansdowne, was Secretary for War (1895-1900) and Foreign
Secretary (1900-1905); Goschen was First Lord of the Admiralty (1895-1900) and
rewarded with a viscounty (1900). Joseph Chamberlain was Secretary for the Colonies
(1895-1903).
Most of these persons were related by numerous family and marital connections which
have not yet been mentioned. We should point out some of these connections, since they
form the background of the Milner Group.
George W. Lyttelton, fourth Baron Lyttelton, married a sister of Mrs. William E.
Gladstone and had eight sons. Of these, Neville and Alfred have been mentioned;
Spencer was secretary to his uncle, W. E. Gladstone, for three extended periods between
1871 and 1894, and was an intimate friend of Arthur Balfour (world tour together in
1875); Edward was Headmaster of Haileybury (1890-1905) and of Eton (1905-1916);
Arthur was chaplain to the Queen (1896-1898) and Bishop of Southampton (1898-1903).
Charles, the oldest son, fifth Baron Lyttelton and eighth Viscount Cobham (1842-1922),
married Mary Cavendish and had four sons and three daughters. The oldest son, now
ninth Viscount Cobham, was private secretary to Lord Selborne in South Africa (1905-
1908) and Parliamentary Under Secretary of War (1939-1940). His brother George was
assistant master at Eton. His sister Frances married the nephew of Lady Chelmsford.
The youngest son of the fourth Baron Lyttelton, Alfred, whom we have already
mentioned, married twice. His first wife was Laura Tennant, whose sister Margot married
Herbert Asquith and whose brother Baron Glenconner married Pamela Wyndham.
Pamela married, for a second husband, Viscount Grey of Fallodon. For his second wife,
Alfred Lyttelton married Edith Balfour. She survived him by many years and was later
deputy director of the women's branch of the Ministry of Agriculture (1917-1919), a
substitute delegate to the Assembly of the League of Nations for five sessions (1923-
1931), and a member of the council of the Royal institute of International Affairs. Her
son, Captain Oliver Lyttelton, has been an M.P. since 1940, was managing director of the
British Metals Corporation, Controller of Non-ferrous Metals (1939-1940), President of
the Board of Trade (1940-1941, 1945), a member of the War Cabinet (1941-1945), and