Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (29 February 1572 – 16 November 1638) was an English military and naval commander.
The third son of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter and grandson of Queen Elizabeth's great minister Lord Burghley, Cecil served with the English forces in the Netherlands between 1596 and 1610, becoming a captain of foot in 1599. In May 1600 he was appointed to a troop of cavalry, which he commanded at the battle of Nieuport, under Sir Francis Vere. In 1601 he commanded a body of one thousand men raised in London for the relief of Ostend, then besieged by the Spanish, and on his return in September was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. In the spring of 1602 he was colonel of a regiment of English horse under Prince Maurice, and served in the expedition into Brabant and at the siege of Grave. He continued actively serving during the years immediately following, and made his reputation as a soldier. In 1610 he commanded the English contingent of four thousand men serving under Prince Christian of Anhalt in the War of the Jülich succession, at the siege of Juliers in July and August.
At court his credit also stood high. In 1620 he was nominated by George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham to command the English troops in Germany, but was superseded by Sir Horace Vere on the demand of Count Dohna, the agent of the king of Bohemia in England. A quarrel ensued between Cecil and Dohna, in the course of which Cecil assured his opponent that it was only his character as an ambassador which protected him from a demand for personal satisfaction. He supported Sir James Perrot's call on the House of Commons of England to commit to military support for the Palatinate in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War.
He was given command of Buckingham's military expedition to Spain in October 1625, but so mismanaged the attack on Cadiz that he entirely missed the treasure ships which were the main objective of the attack. Nevertheless in the following month, November 1625, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cecil of Putney and Viscount Wimbledon. He returned to command the English forces in the Netherlands from 1627 (the Siege of Groenlo) until 1629 (the Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch), and was Governor of Portsmouth from 1630 to 1638. He remained highly placed in the military establishment.
He was Member of Parliament on several occasions, initially for Aldborough in 1601, also for Chichester in 1621 and Dover in 1624; and served as Lord Lieutenant of Surrey from 1627 to 1638.
In 1601 he married Theodosia Noel (b. 1585), daughter of Sir Andrew Noel of Dalby. They had four daughters:
Following the death of his first wife, in 1617 he married Diana Drury (d. 1631), daughter of Sir William Drury of Hawstead. Their only child, Anne, died in infancy. His third marriage, 1635, was to Sophia Zouche (c. 1618-1691), daughter of Sir Edward Zouche of Woking. By her he had a son, Algernon, but this child also died aged less than a year old.
Wimbledon died in 1638. Both his titles became extinct on his death. He is ancestor, via his daughter Frances, of the actors Ralph Fiennes and Joseph Fiennes, and of the explorer Ranulph Fiennes.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Earl of Nottingham The Earl of Holderness |
Lord Lieutenant of Surrey jointly with The Earl of Nottingham 1627–1638 The Earl of Arundel 1635–1638 Lord Maltravers 1636–1638 1627-1638 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Nottingham The Earl of Arundel Lord Maltravers |
| Peerage of England | ||
| New creation | Viscount Wimbledon 1625-1638 |
Extinct |