Unionist government, 1895–1905 Unionist government, 1895–1905 A coalition of the Conservative and Liberal Unionist parties took power in the United Kingdom following the 1895 general election. Conservative leader Lord Salisbury was appointed Prime Minister and his nephew, Arthur Balfour, became Leader of the House of Commons, but various major posts went to the Liberal Unionists, most notably the leader of the House of Lords, the Liberal Unionist Duke of Devonshire, who was made Lord President, and his colleague in the Commons, Joseph Chamberlain, who became Colonial Secretary. It was this government which would conduct the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902, which
James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury and Elizabeth Sackville-West, Countess De La Warr, with whom he had five children: Lord Salisbury died in April 1868, aged 76, and was succeeded as marquess by his third, eldest surviving son, Robert. The Marchioness of Salisbury died in December 1900. James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, (17 April 1791 – 12 April 1868), styled Viscount Cranborne until 1823, was a British Conservative politician. He held office under the Earl of Derby as Lord Privy Seal in 1852 and Lord President of the Council between 1858 and 1859. He was the father