Lord Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil, CH (9 April 1902 – 1 January 1986) was a British biographer, historian, and scholar. He held the style of "Lord" by

courtesy Courtesy (from the word , from the 12th century) is gentle politeness and courtly manners. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the behaviour expected of the nobility was compiled in courtesy books. History The apex of European courtly culture was ...

as a younger son of a marquess.

Early life and studies

David Cecil was the youngest of the four children of

James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury, (23 October 1861 – 4 April 1947), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1868 to 1903, was a British politician. Background and education Born in London, Salisbury was the eldest son ...

, and the former Lady Cicely Gore (second daughter of Arthur Gore, 5th Earl of Arran). His siblings were Lady Beatrice Edith Mildred Cecil (afterwards Baroness Harlech),

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury (27 August 1893 – 23 February 1972), known as Viscount Cranborne from 1903 to 1947, was a British Conservative politician. Background Nicknamed "Bobbety", Salisbury was the eldest ...

(1893–1972) and Lady Mary Alice Cecil (afterwards Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire). Cecil was a delicate child, suffering from a tubercular gland in his neck at the age of 8 years, and after an operation he spent a great deal of time in bed, where he developed his love of reading. Because of his delicate health his parents sent him to

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

later than other boys, and he survived the experience by spending one day a week in bed. After school he went on to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, as an undergraduate.

Career

Cecil read Modern History at Oxford and in 1924 obtained first-class honours. From 1924 to 1930 he was a Fellow of

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

. With his first publication, ''The Stricken Deer'' (1929), a sympathetic study of the poet Cowper, he made an immediate impact as a literary historian. Studies followed on

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

, early Victorian novelists and

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

. In 1939 he became a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, where he remained a Fellow until 1969, when he became an Honorary Fellow. In 1947 he became Professor of

Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England that does not accept students or award degrees. It was founded in 1597 under the Will (law), will of Sir Thomas Gresham, ...

, London, for a year; but in 1948 he returned to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and remained a Professor of English Literature there until 1970. For a time Cecil was an associate of the literary group known as the "

Inklings The Inklings were an informal literature, literary discussion group associated with J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis at the University of Oxford for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusia ...

", which included notable authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien,

C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...

, and

Owen Barfield Arthur Owen Barfield (9 November 1898 – 14 December 1997) was an English philosopher, author, poet, critic, and member of the Inklings. Life Barfield was born in London, to Elizabeth (née Shoults; 1860–1940) and Arthur Edward Barfield (186 ...

. While a professor at New College Cecil's pupils included

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social crit ...

, Bidhu Bhusan Das, R. K. Sinha, John Bayley, the Milton scholar Dennis Burden, and Ludovic Kennedy. Neil Powell describes Amis's relationship with him, or lack of a relationship, as follows:

mis'sallocated supervisor was Lord David Cecil, who seemed disinclined to supervise anything at all; after a term and a half had passed without any contact between them, Kingsley decided to go in search of him at New College. This caused much amusement at the porters' lodge, as if he had asked for the Shah of Persia: "Oh no, sir. Lord David? Oh, you'd have to get up very early in the morning to get hold of him. Oh dear, oh dear. Lord David in college, well I never did."

A 1949 lecture by Cecil is credited with inspiring L. P. Hartley's famous line "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." ('' The Go-Between'', 1953). Cecil's words were:

Past periods are like foreign countries: regions inhabited by men of like passions to our own, but with different customs and codes of behaviour.

During his academic career Cecil published studies of Hardy,

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, and classics, classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. He is widely ...

Dorothy Osborne Dorothy Osborne, Lady Temple (1627–1695) was an English writer of Letter (message), letters and wife of Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet. Life Osborne was born at Chicksands Priory, Bedfordshire, England, the youngest of twelve children of Pet ...

and

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, Art critic, art and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of t ...

. As well as his literary studies he also published a two-volume historical biography of Lord Melbourne (to whom he was distantly related) and appreciations of visual artists –

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, Parody, parodist and Caricature, caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the theatre crit ...

, Samuel Palmer and

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

. In retirement he published further literary and biographic studies of

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for his psychological horror short fi ...

, Jane Austen,

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...

and

Desmond MacCarthy Sir Charles Otto Desmond MacCarthy (20 May 1877 – 7 June 1952) was a British writer and literary and dramatic critic. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, the intellectual secret society, from 1896. Early life and education The son ...

, as well as a history of his own family, ''The Cecils of Hatfield House'' and an account of ''Some Dorset Country Houses''. His anthology of writers who had given him special pleasure, ''Library Looking Glass'', appeared in 1975.

Family and personal life

In 1932 Cecil married Rachel MacCarthy, daughter of the literary journalist Sir Desmond MacCarthy. They had three children, including actor Jonathan Cecil.

Publications

*''The Stricken Deer or The Life of Cowper'' (1929) n the poet William Cowper; this won the 1929 James Tait Black Memorial Prize">William_Cowper.html" ;"title="n the poet William Cowper">n the poet William Cowper; this won the 1929 James Tait Black Memorial Prize] *''Sir Walter Scott: The Raven Miscellany'' (1933) *''Early Victorian Novelists : essays in revaluation'' (1934) *''Jane Austen'' (1936) *''The Young Melbourne and the Story of his Marriage with Caroline Lamb'' (1939; reprinted 1948 and 1954) *''The English Poets'' (1941) *''The Oxford Book of Christian Verse'' (1941) ditor*''Men of the R.A.F.'' (1942) ith Sir William Rothenstein">Sir_William_Rothenstein.html" ;"title="ith Sir William Rothenstein">ith Sir William Rothenstein*''Hardy the Novelist: an Essay in Criticism'' (1942) [Clark Lectures] *''Antony and Cleopatra, the fourth W. P. Ker memorial lecture delivered in the University of Glasgow, 4 May 1943'' (1944) *''Poetry of Thomas Gray'' (1945) [Warton Lecture] *''Two Quiet Lives'' (1948) [on

and

] *''Poets & Story-tellers'' (1949) [essays] *''Reading as One of the Fine Arts'' (1949) inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 28 May 1949 *''Lord M, or the Later Life of Lord Melbourne'' (1954) *''Walter Pater--the Scholar Artist'' (1955) Rede Lecture *''Augustus John: Fifty-two Drawings'' (1957) *''The Fine Art of Reading and Other Literary Studies'' (1957) *''Modern Verse in English 1900-1950'' (1958) ditor with Allen Tate">Allen_Tate.html" ;"title="ditor with Allen Tate">ditor with Allen Tate*''Max'' (1964) [biography of

] *''Visionary and Dreamer : Two poetic painters, Samuel Palmer & Edward Burne-Jones'' (from the A.W. Mellon Lectures, 1969) *''The Bodley Head Beerbohm'' (1970) ditor*''Max Beerbohm: Selected Prose'' (1970) ditor*''A Choice of Tennyson's Verse'' (1971) ditor*''The Cecils of Hatfield House: a Portrait of an English Ruling Family'' (1973) *''Walter de la Mare'' (1973) nglish Association leaflet*''A Victorian Album: Julia Margaret Cameron and her Circle'' (1975) ith Graham Ovenden*''Library Looking-Glass: A Personal Anthology'' (1975) nthology*''Lady Ottoline's Album'' (1976) *''A Portrait of Jane Austen'' (1978) *''A Portrait of Charles Lamb'' (1983) *''Desmond MacCarthy, the Man and His Writings'' (1984) ditor*''Some

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

Country Houses'' (1985) *''A Choice of Bridges's Verse'' (1987) ditor

References

Sources

* Glyer, Diana (2007) ''The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community''.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cecil, Lord David 1902 births 1986 deaths David Cecil, Lord Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour British literary critics Younger sons of marquesses People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Fellows of New College, Oxford Inklings Academics of Gresham College James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients 20th-century British biographers