Evelyn Cecil, 1st Baron Rockley

{{Short description|British politician (1865-1941)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Lord Rockley

| image = File:Evelyn Cecil Notable Londoners 1922.jpg

| caption = Sir Evelyn Cecil (in about 1922).

| birth_date = 30 May 1865

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1941|4|1|1865|5|30}}

| death_place = Poole, Dorset, England

| honorific_suffix = GBE PC

| party = Conservative

| office = Member of Parliament
for Hertford

| term_start = 1898

| term_end = 1900

| predecessor = Abel Smith

| successor = Abel Henry Smith

| office2 = Member of Parliament
for Aston Manor

| term_start2 = 1900

| term_end2 = 1918

| predecessor2 = George Grice-Hutchinson

| successor2 = Constituency renamed

| office3 = Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Aston

| term_start3 = 1918

| term_end3 = 1929

| predecessor3 = New constituency

| successor3 = John Strachey

| father = Lord Eustace Cecil

| mother =

| relatives = {{nowrap|James Gascoyne-Cecil (grandfather)}}
{{nowrap|William Tyssen-Amherst (father-in-law)}}
{{nowrap|Sir Robert Cecil (cousin)}}
Arthur Balfour (cousin)

| education = Eton College

| alma_mater = New College, Oxford

| spouse = {{marriage|Alicia Amherst|16 February 1898|1941}}

| children = 3;
Robert William Evelyn
Margaret Gertrude Cecil
Maud Katharine Alicia Cecil

}}

Evelyn Cecil, 1st Baron Rockley (30 May 1865 – 1 April 1941), was a British Conservative Party politician.

Evelyn Cecil was born in the parish of St George's, Hanover Square in the heart of London's Mayfair, the eldest son of Lord Eustace Cecil, grandson of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, and cousin of both Sir Robert Cecil and Arthur Balfour.

He was educated at Eton before going up to New College, Oxford. Cecil was Private Secretary from 1891 to 1892, to the Prime Minister, his uncle, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, during the latter's second term and during his third term from 1895 to 1902.

On 16 February 1898, Cecil married the Hon. Alicia Amherst (a garden historian and daughter of William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney), having three children: Robert William Evelyn, later 2nd Baron Rockley (28 February 1901 – 26 January 1976),Westminster, London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1919 Margaret Gertrude (27 November 1898 – 26 August 1962) and Maud Katharine Alicia (21 November 1904 - 12 June 1981).Westminster, London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1919England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995

Cecil was a director of the London and South Western Railway company. He was the chairman of various investment trust companies and deputy chairman of the Clerical, Medical and General Life Assurance Society.[https://archive.org/details/notablelondoners00lond/page/39/mode/1up Notable Londoners, an Illustrated Who's Who of Professional and Business Men] (1922), London: London Publishing Agency, page 39; accessed 8 August 2024.

Cecil served as a Member of Parliament from 1898 to 1929 and was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1922 New Year Honours.{{London Gazette|issue=32563|date=31 December 1921|page=10716|supp=y}} He was raised to the Peerage on 11 January 1934 as Baron Rockley, of Lytchett Heath, in the County of Dorset.{{London Gazette |issue=34015 |date=16 January 1934 |page=386}}

Lord Rockley died in 1941 in Poole in Dorset, aged 75.