Lady Gwendolen Georgiana Gascoyne-Cecil (3 July 1860 – 28 September 1945) was a British author and aristocrat who wrote a four-volume biography of her father, Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, entitled Life of Robert, Marquis of Salisbury.[2]
Early life and family
Lady Gwendolen and her elder sister, Lady Maud, c. 1865
Lady Gwendolen was born on 3 July 1860 in St Pancras, London, the second of seven surviving children of the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, and his wife, the former Georgina Alderson.[3] She was baptised 28 July at St Mary Magdalene in Camden, London.[4]
The first two volumes of the biography of her father appeared in 1921 and were immediately well received. In July 1931, the third volume, covering the years 1880–86, was published, giving insight into his family life at the same time he took office in 1885, as well as events such as Lord Randolph Churchill's resignation as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The fourth volume, covering the years 1887–92, was n December 1931, and dealt primarily with Lord Salisbury's foreign policy.[2]
She also wrote a short story called The Little Ray for the August 1894 edition of Pall Mall Magazine.[6] In 1895, Lady Gwendolen was revealed as the author of the story The Closed Cabinet, a work once considered anonymous.[7]
In 1878, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli stayed at her family home and he wrote to Queen Victoria that he had rarely met (referring to Gwendolen and her sister) "more intelligent and agreeable women."
Lady Gwendolen was also a talented mathematician.[2]
Her intellectual gifts were undeniable, and her zest for life and politics was as great as that of her relatives, while her wit illuminated every subject she touched on. But her brain was not the thing we adored in her. Her heart, her power of love, her incessant helpfulness, made her the family centre after her mother's death. The growing families of her brothers and sister—two families lived in Hatfield House and one a stone's throw away—brought their nursery problems and their school-room problems to her. She was surrounded by the children: they were all over her and she was wonderful with them. The advantage to them of having a first rate mind to carry their troubles to was beyond price. But this picture of a benevolent aunt is far below Lady Gwendolen's merits. For she had a really original mind and no one ever saw her without being startled, awakened, by some unexpected thought or phrase. Her nephews and nieces will never forget her and to all who knew her her name lives for evermore.
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