William Cecil: Life Story

1520

Born, 14^th September, Bourne, Lincolnshire

c. 1528

To school at Grantham

c. 1530

To school at Stamford

May 1535

To St John’s College, Cambridge

1540

Began studying at Gray’s Inn, London

6^th May 1541

Admitted, Gray’s Inn

August 1541

Married Mary Cheke of Cambridge, sister of John Cheke

May 1542

Birth of son, Thomas, later Earl of Exeter

22^nd February 1544

Death of Mary

24 December 1545

Married Mildred Cooke, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke

1543 – 44

May have sat in the House of Commons. This Parliament passed the 3^rd Succession Act

c. 1545

Enters the service of Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford

1545

Recorder of Boston

28^th January 1547

Death of Henry VIII

February 1547

Earl of Hertford becomes Lord Protector and Duke of Somerset

1547

Justice of the Peace, Lincolnshire

1548

Master of Requests for Duke of Somerset

1549

Buys lease of the Rectory, Wimbledon

1549

First Book of Common Prayer

6^th July 1549

Custos Rotulorum for Lincolnshire

10^th September 1549

Present at Battle of Pinkie

24^th November 1549

Arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London

25^th January 1550

Released from the Tower

5^th September 1550

Secretary to Edward VI and appointed to Privy Council

c. 1550

Steward to the Lady Elizabeth of her lands in Lincolnshire

11^th October 1551

Knighted

Before 1552

Court of Augmentations for Lincolnshire

22^nd January 1552

Execution of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset

1552

Second Book of Common Prayer

19^th March 1553

Death of his father, Richard Cecil

12^th April 1553

Chancellor of the Order of the Garter

6^th July 1553

Death of Edward VI

8^th August 1553

Took part in funeral of Edward VI at Westminster Abbey

22^nd August 1553

Execution of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland

1554

Birth and death of Frances Cecil

1554

Travelled to Brussels to meet Cardinal Pole and escort him home

1555

Member of the House of Commons

1556

Steward of the Manor of Wimbledon for Cardinal Pole

5^th Dec 1556

Birth of Anne ‘Nan’ Cecil, later Countess of Oxford

17^th November 1558

Death of Mary I and accession of Elizabeth I

20^th November 1558

Sworn in as Privy Councillor and Secretary

1559

Birth and death of William Cecil (I)

1559

Act of Uniformity

c. 1560

Steward of Stamford, Lincolnshire

1560

Acquired Theobalds

1560

Visited Scotland to negotiate Treaty of Edinburgh

1561

Birth and death of William Cecil (II)

1563

Birth of Robert Cecil, later Earl of Salisbury

1563

Elected senior Knight of the Shire for Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire

1563

High Steward of Westminster

1564

Birth of Elizabeth Cecil, later Lady Wentworth

10^th January 1568

Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries

1568

Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex

1569

Rising of the Northern Earls

April – June 1571

Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal

7^th September 1571

Execution of Thomas Howard, 4^th Duke of Norfolk

25^th February 1572

Created 1^st Baron of Burghley

July 1572

Lord Treasurer

4^th August 1572

The Massacre of St Bartholomew

1572

Overseer of the Queen’s Majesty’s Works

April 1583

Death of Elizabeth Cecil, Lady Wentworth

1585

Steward of the Honour of Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire

1587

Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire

8^th February 1587

Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

1588

Lord Lieutenant of Essex and Hertfordshire

10^th March 1588

Death of Jane Heckingon, Mrs Cecil, his mother

5^th June 1588

Death of Anne Cecil, Countess of Oxford

7^th August 1588

Defeat of Spanish Armada

4^th April 1589

Death of Mildred Cooke, Lady Burghley, his wife

15^th July 1598

Last attendance at a Council meeting

4^th August 1598

Death of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley