William Cecil, 16th Baron Ros

William Cecil, 16th Baron Ros of Helmsley (May 1590 – 27 June 1618) was an English peer, whose ill-advised marriage to Anne Lake resulted in a major scandal, which dragged on  for years after his  early death.

He was born at Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire,  only son of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter, and baptised on 4 June 1590. In 1591, he inherited the barony of de Ros from his mother, Elizabeth Cecil, 15th Baroness de Ros. 

On 13 February 1615/6, he married Ann Lake,  daughter of Sir  Thomas Lake, the Secretary of State, and his wife Mary Ryther,  a marriage which soon ended in divorce and a bitter feud between the two families, caused in the first place by the Cecil family's refusal to transfer lands allegedly due to Anne as part of the marriage settlement. Anne, her mother and other family members made lurid  and entirely false allegations against Cecil. Cecil challenged his brother-in-law Sir Arthur Lake, generally regarded as the prime mover in the affair,  to a duel,  but Arthur refused the challenge. 

The accusations, which included adultery with his grandfather's young second wife Frances Brydges, were so serious that he  felt it wiser to leave the country for a time.  He was sent by King James I on a special mission to the Holy Roman Emperor. Eventually  a thorough investigation concluded that all the charges against Cecil had been fabricated by the Lake family, several of whom were severely punished by Star  Chamber as a result. The matter was not finally resolved until 1621, by which time William was dead.

He died aged 28 without issue. Since his father and grandfather both outlived him, the  Earldom of Exeter passed to his first cousin David Cecil, 3rd Earl of Exeter. His mother's barony passed separately to her next heir, Francis  Manners, 6th Earl of Rutland. Cecil's  ex-wife Anne remarried George Rodney of Stoke Rodney, Somerset, and died in  1630.

Sources
Mosley, Charles  ed. Burke's Peerage   Delaware 2003  107th  Edition Vol.1 p,1363

Category:1590 births
Category:1618 deaths
Category:People from Newark-on-Trent
16
Category:Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire
Category:17th-century English diplomats