Wallace Collection of the wealthiest families in Europe. They owned large properties in England, Wales and Ireland, and increased their wealth through successful marriages. Politically of lesser importance, the 3rd and 4th Marquess and Sir Richard Wallace became leading art collectors of their time. The Wallace Collection, comprising about 5,500 works of art, was bequeathed to the British nation by Lady Wallace in 1897. The state then decided to buy Hertford House to display the collection and it was opened as a museum in 1900. As a museum the Wallace Collection's main strength is perhaps its extraordinary array of 18th-century French art:
Marquess of Salisbury fourth Marquess, while the journalist Lord Richard Cecil was the second son of the sixth Marquess. Also, Lady Blanche Gascoyne-Cecil, daughter of the second Marquess, was the mother of Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour. The family seats are Hatfield House and Cranborne Manor. The traditional burial place of the marquesses is the Salisbury Chapel in St Etheldreda Church, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. The heir apparent is the present holder's son Robert Edward William Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne (b. 1970). Marquess of Salisbury Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for