Robert Walpole

EARLY LIFE  

Robert Walpole was born in Houghton, Norfolk on August 26, 1676. One of 19 children, he was the third son and fifth child of Robert Walpole, a member of the local gentry.

Robert Walpole senior was the most influential Whig leader in Norfolk and he represented the borough of Castle Rising in the House of Commons.

His mother was Mary Walpole (née Mary Burwell).

Robert Walpole would later prove to hold the record amongst UK Prime Ministers for the greatest number of siblings.

Portrait of Robert Walpole (1676–1745)

Robert studied at Eton College from 1690 to 1696, and was admitted to King's College, Cambridge immediately after leaving Eton. In 1698, he left the University of Cambridge after the death of his only remaining elder brother, Edward, so that he could help his father administer the family estate.

EARLY CAREER 

Robert Walpole had planned to become a clergyman, but abandoned the idea when, as the eldest surviving son in the family, he became the heir to his father's estate.

His political career as a Whig began in January 1701 when Walpole succeeded his father as MP for the borough of Castle Rising. He left Castle Rising in 1702 so that he could represent the neighbouring borough of King's Lynn, a pocket borough that would re-elect him for the remainder of his political career.

His abilities were recognised by the leader of the Cabinet Lord Godolphin who appointed Walpole to the position of Secretary at War in 1708. He also simultaneously held the post of Treasurer of the Navy in 1710.

A Tory attempt to ruin Walpole resulted in his impeachment in 1712. As a result he spent time in prison for embezzlement and was expelled from Parliament making him a martyr for the Whig cause.

Walpole gained his revenge when George I came to the throne. The newly crowned king distrusted the Tories, whom he believed opposed his right to succeed to the throne and Walpole  saw to the impeachment of his opponents.

Walpole was First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1715 and 1717 but resigned from office in sympathy with his brother in law Lord Townshend's dismissal from the position of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

In the early 1720s an economic crisis, known as the South Sea Bubble, made George I and his ministers extremely unpopular.  Walpole had continued to be an influential figure in the House of Commons and the economic disaster of the South Sea Bubble allowed him to rise to the pinnacle of government. Walpole and his Whig Party were dominant in politics, for George I feared that the Tories did not support the succession laid down in the Act of Settlement. The power of the Whigs was so great that the Tories would not come to hold power for another half-century.

The main character Macheath in John Gay's The Beggars Opera, an operetta condemning the South Sea Bubble farce, was based on Walpole.

PRIME MINISTER

Sir Robert Walpole entered office on April 1, 1721 as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.

He pursued a policy of peace abroad and efficient financial management at home. Under Walpole's  leadership the British economy boomed as never before.

1740 political cartoon depicting Walpole as the Colossus of Rhodes, 

King George I was the last king of England who could not speak English. He spoke to his Prime Minister Robert Walpole in Latin.

When in 1733 Walpole tried to impose an excise tax on wine and tobacco he aroused the opposition of the nation's merchants. Walpole agreed to withdraw the bill before Parliament voted on it, but his power had been shaken.

Walpole was satirised and parodied extensively. Henry Fielding's 1737 The Historical Register contained a villainous, bribing politician by the name of ‘Quidam’, who was instantly recognizable to the audience as their Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

The Historical Register was said to be the cause for Walpole’s stringent Licensing Act of 1737.  The law required all plays to be submitted for censorship by the Lord Chamberlain.

Sir Robert Walpole resigned on February 11, 1742 over the alleged rigging of the Chippenham by-election. He had served 20 years and 314 days as prime minister, the longest single term and longer even than the accumulated terms of other British PMs who held the office more than once.

As part of his resignation King George II agreed to elevate Walpole to the House of Lords as the Earl of Orford.

HOMES 

Houghton Hall a country house surrounded by 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of parkland a few miles from Sandringham House in Norfolk was first commissioned by Walpole in 1722.

A grand Palladian pile, it is a key building in the history of Palladian architecture. Houghton was intended to be the permanent home for more than 400 of his Old Master paintings, including works by Van Dyck, Poussin, Rubens, Rembrandt and Velázquez.

The facade of Houghton Hall by Dennis Smith8

In 1730 Walpole had Houghton village demolished and rebuilt elsewhere as "New Houghton" to improve the view from the magnificent Houghton Hall- the last word in opulence.

In 1732 King George II offered Robert Walpole 10 Downing Street as a personal gift, but Walpole accepted it only as the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury (later called Prime Minister).

On September 22, 1735, Sir Robert Walpole moved in to 10 Downing Street, becoming the first Prime Minister to use the house as an official residence.

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER 

Robert Walpole was a short, thickset man, who weighed in middle life more than 20 stone (280 lbs).

Portrait of Walpole (1740)

Walpole talked in a bawdy fashion and had a rustic image, rough and coarse. He was nicknamed by voters and politicians "Cock Robin".

The ancient rhyme "Who killed Cock Robin?" is thought to have been devised to reflect the intrigues surrounding the downfall of Walpole's ministry in 1742.

The Norfolk squire was shrewd, and determined with a friendly open manner.

MARRIAGE 

Walpole married Catherine Shorter at Knightsbridge chapel on July 30, 1700. She was the daughter of John Shorter a Baltic timber merchant of Bybrook in Ashford, Kent. Catherine was described in Coxe's Memoirs as "a woman of exquisite beauty and accomplished manners".

Catherine Shorter

Together they had two daughters and three sons including the novelist and art historian Horace Walpole.

Walpole's marriage to Catherine Shorter was a sham and he took a number of mistresses. After Catherine died in 1737, Walpole married his favorite mistress, Maria Skerritt, who died shortly thereafter during childbirth.

PERSONAL LIFE

Robert Walpole often sat munching Norfolk apples in the House of Commons.

Walpole had to live with two harassing diseases, gout and a stone in his bladder, which left him but intermittent vigour and disturbed the balance of his naturally placid temper. He even ate soap in an attempt to get rid of the stone in his bladder.

Walpole assembled a famous collection of art during his career. This collection was sold by his grandson, the 3rd Earl of Orford, to the Russian Empress Catherine II in 1779. This collection—which was regarded as one of the finest in Europe—now lies in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

DEATH 

Walpole's health, never good, deteriorated rapidly toward the end of 1744.

By 1745 the pain caused by a laceration of his bladder was so acute that Walpole was drenched with opium and for six weeks was in a state of stupefaction.

Walpole died of exhaustion on March 18, 1745 at the age of 68.

He was buried March 25, 1745 in the parish church of St Martin in Houghton, Norfolk. Walpole's earldom passed to his eldest son Robert.