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'''Richard Cecil (d. 1552)'''

Copyright 2006, Will Johnson, [mailto:wjhonson@aol.com wjhonson@aol.com], Professional Genealogist, All Rights Reserved

==Biography==
Richard Cecil was a resident of Burleigh in the parish of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamford_Baron_St_Martin Stamford Baron St Martin], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northamptonshire Northamptonshire].  His father David, has land in Lincolnshire and Townsend and Sanford (op cit) state that he founded a chantry at St George's there in 22H7 (1506/7).  David rose in favor under King [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England Henry VIII].  He was appointed bailiff of Whittlesey Mere and [[Keeper of the Swans]] in 1507. He became  [[High Sheriff of Northamptonshire]] in 1529 and 1530, and died in 1541. (See also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Sheriff High Sheriff])

Richard too was a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/courtier courtier].  I have found no document yet which gives me an age, birthyear or birthdate for Richard Cecil, however in 1517 he was a royal page; in 1520 he was present at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_the_Cloth_of_Gold Field of the Cloth of Gold]; he rose to be groom of the robes and [[Constable_of_Warwick_Castle|constable]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warwick_Castle Warwick Castle].  He was high sheriff of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutland Rutland] in 1539, and was one of those who received no inconsiderable share of the plunder of the monasteries.  He married Jane Heckington, daughter and heiress of William Heckington of Bourne, Lincolnshire.  He had only one son, [[William Cecil, Lord Burghley]] (1520-1598), but three daughters.

He sent his son William to the grammar schools of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamford Stamford] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantham_School Grantham], and in 1535 William entered [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's_College,_Cambridge St. John's College, Cambridge].  Academically a success, William ran afoul of his father, when his heart was lost to Mary Cheke, daughter of a local widow, with only a fortune of 40 pounds to recommend her.  William was immediately removed before he could take his degree, and was entered as a student at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray's_Inn Gray's Inn] in 1541.  If the motive was to prevent a marriage, it failed.  Two months after he came up to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London London], William married Mary, probably secretly.  Thomas, the future [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Exeter Earl of Exeter] and only fruit of this union was born at Cambridge on 5 May 1542, therefore presumably at his grandmother's house.  The marriage was so distateful to Richard, that he is said to have altered his will, or at any rate, to have intended to do so.  But the young wife did not live long, dying on 22 Feb 1544.

When Richard died 19 Mar 1552/3<sup>[http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC04293172&id=0HHbZEfy6lYC&pg=PA13&dq=richard+cecil+burghley]</sup>, he left an ample estate behind him in the counties of Rutland, Northamptonshire and elsewhere.  He died at his house in Cannon Row and was buried at St. Margaret's, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster Westminster].

Richard's widow Jane died in 10 March 1587/8. <sup>[http://countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/WilliamCecil1]</sup>

==Family==
Richard and Jane had four children:
*[[William Cecil, Lord Burghley]]
*Anne (also called Agnes) who married Thomas White of Tuxford, Nottinghamshire
*Margaret married first Roger Cave and secondly Ambrose Smith
*Elizabeth married first [[RobertWingfield|Robert Wingfield]] and secondly Hugh Allington.<sup>[http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/AF/individual_record.asp?recid=8197335&frompage=99]</sup>

==Original documents==
*[http://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/Documents/Cecil1 Granted reversion of several offices, and mention of prior lease of some lands around Maxey]
*[http://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/Documents/RichardCecil2 His cemetery monument]

==Secondary sources==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography#The_first_series DNB], [http://content.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6892&path=Brown+-+Chaloner.Dictionary+Of+National+Biography.CE.15&fn=william&ln=cecil&st=d&pid=11794&rc=135,631,256,661;291,632,483,662&zp=75 "William Cecil, Lord Burghley]
*Complete Peerage, "Burghley", pg 428, transcribed [http://www.countyhistorian.com/cecilweb/index.php/WilliamCecil1 here]

*[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1402159013&id=Wdngqyl9coAC&pg=RA5-PA63&lpg=RA5-PA63&sig=Pdl1T_NOgmfs-4gdFstauZXCu-o The Great Governing Families of England, by Meredith White Townsend and John Langton Sanford; Vol 2, pg 63]

*[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wjhonson/Royals/GED2WEB/people/p0000066.htm#I2364 His entry at Will Johnson's ''Royals'']
*[http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00004190&tree=LEO His entry at genealogics]
*[http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/CECIL.htm#Richard%20CECIL%20(CYSSEL)1 Cecil family entry at tudorplace.com.ar]
*[http://www.thepeerage.com/p6159.htm#i61586 His entry at thepeerage.com]
*[http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/cc4aq/cecil01.htm His entry at stirnet.com]
*[http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/AF/individual_record.asp?recid=7672598&lds=0&frompage=0 His entry at familysearch.org]

==Further reading==
[http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC04293172&id=0HHbZEfy6lYC&printsec=toc&dq=richard+cecil+burghley <i>The Cecil Family</i>, by George Ravenscroft Dennis]