Sir Cecil was noted for having a large number of children, at least thirteen, for the period, so many that it "caused some remark in contemporary society".
He explained "the reason, my Lord, for my thus importuning you is a very cogent one, a numerous family, scarce in the power of frugality to support.
At a London ball 7 June 1760 Horace Walpole writes to the Earl of Strafford that there appeared "a new Miss Bishop from Sir Cecil's endless hoard of beautiful daughters, who is still prettier than her sisters.
[and] is so dead against the unfortunate youth that poor Sir Cecyl [sic] must have regretted his well-meant efforts at intervention.
"[12] Undeterred by the Duke of Richmond's criticism, Sir Cecil appeared as a character witness for Thomas at the trial in the Old Bailey April 1749.
He was the son of William Wheeler II, who was Lord of the Manor of Storrington in the neighbouring village to Parham, Sir Cecil's estate.
[13] However the Rev John Bishop (no relation to the Bishopp/Bisshopp Baronets) asks in his article "The Strange Case of Thomas Lillywhite - Was He a Smuggler?".
[14] Rev Bishop notes that Lillywhite was strongly defended on the basis that he was an innocent bystander asked to join in the raid at the last minute while he was riding in the Forest of Bere.
In January 1745 Sir Cecil's younger brother, James (at one time served as aide-de-camp to the Duke of Arenberg[16] was arrested at Pevensey as a Jacobite on trying to cross over to France.