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| Term of Office: | 1721–1742 |
| Predecessor: | None |
| Successor: | The Earl of Wilmington |
| Date of Birth: | 26 August 1676 |
| Place of Birth: | Norfolk, England |
| Date of Death: | 18 March 1745 |
| Place of Death: | London, England |
| Political Party: | Whig |
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (26 August 1676–18 March 1745), normally known as Sir Robert Walpole, is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The position of Prime Minister was only a de facto one, having no official recognition in law, but Walpole is nevertheless acknowledged as having held the de facto office due to the extent of his influence in the Cabinet.
Walpole, a member of the Whig Party, served during the reigns of George I and George II. His tenure is normally dated to 1721, when he obtained the post of First Lord of the Treasury; others date it to 1730, when, with the retirement of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, he became the sole and undisputed leader of the Cabinet. Walpole continued to govern until he resigned in 1742, his popularity having tremendously declined due to the attacks made by his opponents. Walpole's administration, the longest of any Prime Minister in British history, was significant in that it marked the beginning of a shift of power from the monarch to the Cabinet.
Early life
Robert Walpole was born in Houghton Hall, Norfolk in 1676. His father, also named Robert Walpole, was a Whig politician who represented the borough of Castle Rising in the House of Commons. His mother was Mary Walpole (née Mary Burwell); he was the fifth of seventeen children, many of whom died during infancy. Robert Walpole would later prove to hold the record amongst Prime Ministers for the greatest number of siblings.
Walpole studied in Eton College from 1690 to 1695, and joined King's College, Cambridge in 1696. 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. Walpole had planned to become a clergyman, but abandoned the idea when, as the eldest surviving son in the family, became the heir to his father's estate. In 1700, Walpole married Catherine Shorter, by whom he later had three sons and two daughters.
Early political career
Walpole's political career began in January 1701, when he won the general election in Castle Rising (the constituency once represented by his father, who had died just three months earlier). He left Castle Rising in 1702 so that he could contest the neighbouring but more important borough of King's Lynn, a constituency which reëlected him at every subsequent general election for the next forty years.
Like his father, Robert Walpole was a zealous member of the Whig Party, which was then more powerful than the opposing Tory Party. In 1705, Walpole was appointed a member of the Council of the Lord High Admiral (then Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Queen Anne), a body which oversaw naval affairs. His administrative skills having been noticed, Walpole was promoted by Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin (the Lord High Treasurer and leader of the Cabinet) to the position of Secretary at War in 1708; for a short period of time in 1710, he also simultaneously held the post of Treasurer of the Navy. Walpole's service in these offices made him a close advisor of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, the commander of British forces in the War of the Spanish Succession and a dominant force in British politics. Robert Walpole himself quickly became one of the most important members of the Cabinet.
Despite his personal clout, however, Walpole could not stop Lord Godolphin and the Whigs from pressing for the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, a minister who preached anti-Whig sermons. The trial was extremely unpopular with much of the country, and was followed by the downfall of the Duke of Marlborough and the Whig Party in the general election of 1710. The new ministry, under the leadership of the Tory Robert Harley, removed Walpole from his office of Secretary at War, but allowed him to remain Treasurer of the Navy until 2 January 1711. Harley attempted to entice him to join the Tories, but Walpole rejected the offers, instead becoming one of the most outspoken members of the Whig Opposition. He effectively defended Lord Godolphin against Tory attacks in parliamentary debate, as well as in the press.
Angered by his political attacks, the Tories sought to ruin and discredit him along with the Duke of Marlborough. In 1712, they alleged that he had been guilty of corruption as Secretary at War; these charges, however, stemmed from politicical hatred rather than fact. Walpole was impeached by the House of Commons and found guilty by the overwhelmingly Tory House of Lords; he was then imprisoned in the Tower of London for six months and expelled from Parliament. The move, however, backfired against the Tories, as Walpole was percieved by the public as the victim of an unjust trial. His own constituency even reëlected him in 1713, despite his earlier expulsion from the House of Commons. Walpole developed an intense hatred for Robert Harley (by then Earl of Oxford and Mortimer) and Henry St John (by then Viscount Bolingbroke), the Tories who had engineered his impeachment.
Stanhope/Sunderland Ministry
Queen Anne died in 1714, to be succeeded by a distant German cousin, George I, under the Act of Settlement 1701. George I distrusted the Tories, whom he believed opposed his right to succeed to the Throne. (The Act of Settlement had excluded several senior relatives of Anne on the grounds of their adherence to Roman Catholicism.) Thus, 1714, the year of George's accession, marked the ascendancy of the Whigs, who would remain in power for the next fifty years. Robert Walpole became a Privy Counsellor and rose to the position of Paymaster of the Forces in a Cabinet nominally led by Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, but actually dominated by Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (Walpole's brother-in-law) and James Stanhope. Walpole was also appointed as the Chairman of a secret committee formed to investigate the actions of the previous Tory ministry. The individuals who had brought about Walpole's impeachment in 1712 were now themselves attacked for purely political reasons: Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer was impeached, and Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke suffered from an act of attainder.
Lord Halifax, the titular head of the administration, died in 1715. Walpole, recognised as an assiduous politician, was immediately promoted to the important posts of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. However, the Cabinet of which he was a member was often divided over important issues; normally, Walpole and Lord Townshend were on one side, with Stanhope and Lord Sunderland on the other. Foreign policy was the primary issue of contention, for Walpole and Townshend believed that George I was conducting foreign affairs with the interests of his German territories—rather than those of Great Britain—at heart. The Stanhope-Sunderland faction, however, had the King's support. In 1716, Townshend was removed from the important post of Northern Secretary and put him in the lesser office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Even this change did not appease Stanhope and Sunderland, who secured the dismissal of Townshend from the Lord-Lieutenancy in April 1717. On the next day, Walpole resigned from the Cabinet to join Townshend in the Opposition. In the new Cabinet, Sunderland and Stanhope (who was created an Earl) were the effective heads.
Soon after Walpole's resignation, a bitter family quarrel between the King and HRH The Prince George, Prince of Wales split the Royal Family. Walpole and others who opposed the Government often congregated at Leicester House, the home of the Prince of Wales, to form political plans. Walpole also became a close friend of the Prince of Wales's wife, Caroline. In 1720, he improved his position by bringig about a reconciliation between the Prince of Wales and the King.
Walpole continued to be an influential figure in the House of Commons; he was especially active in opposing one of the Government's more significant proposals, the Peerage Bill, which would have limited the power of the monarch to create new peerage dignities. Walpole brought about a temporary abandonment of the bill in 1719, and the outright rejection of the bill by the House of Commons in the next year. This defeat led Lord Stanhope and Lord Sunderland to reconcile with their opponents; Walpole returned to the Cabinet as Paymaster of the Forces, and Townshend was appointed Lord President of the Council. By returning to the Cabinet, however, he lost the favour of the Prince of Wales (the future King George II), who still harboured disdain for his father the King's Government.
Rise to power
Soon after Walpole returned to the Cabinet, England was swept up by over-enthusiastic speculation which led to the South Sea Bubble. The Government had established a plan whereby the South Sea Company would assume the national debt of Great Britain in exchange for lucrative government bonds; it was widely believed that the Company would eventually reap an enormous profit. Many in the country, including Walpole himself, frenziedly invested in the company. By the latter part of 1720, however, the company had begun to collapse as the price of its shares plunged. Walpole was saved from financial ruin by his banker, who had earlier advised him to sell his shares; other investors, however, were not as fortunate.
In 1721, a committee investigated the scandal, finding that there was corruption on the part of many in the Cabinet. Among those implicated were John Aislabie (the Chancellor of the Exchequer), James Craggs the Elder (the Postmaster General), James Craggs the Younger (the Southern Secretary), and even Lord Stanhope and Lord Sunderland (the heads of the Ministry). Craggs the Elder, Craggs the Younger both died in disgrace; the remainder were impeached for their corruption. Aislabie was found guilty and imprisoned, but the personal influence of Walpole saved both Stanhope and Sunderland. Still, both eventually left the Cabinet: Sunderland was compelled to resign in 1721, and Stanhope died in the same year.
The resignation of Sunderland left Walpole as the most important figure in the administration. In April 1721, he was appointed First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Walpole's de facto tenure as "Prime Minister" is often dated to his appointment as First Lord in 1721. In reality, however, Walpole shared power with his brother-in-law, Lord Townshend, who served as Secretary of State for the Northern Department and controlled the nation's foreign affairs. The two also had to contend with the Secretary of State for the Southern Department, John Carteret, 2nd Baron Carteret.
Premiership under George I
Under the guidance of Walpole, Parliament attempted to deal with the financial crisis. The estates of the directors of the company were confiscated and used to relieve the suffering of the victims, and the stock of the South Sea Company was divided between the Bank of England and East India Company. The crisis had done much to damage the credibility of the King and of the Whig Party, but Walpole defended both with skilful oratory in the House of Commons. The Jacobites—individuals who opposed the right of George I to succeed to the Throne under the Act of Settlement—had planned to take advantage of the South Sea affair; however, the Jacobite plot formed by Francis Atterbury was foiled. The Jacobites lost another of their leaders when Lord Bolingbroke submitted to the new King in return for a pardon.
During the remainder of George I's reign, Walpole's ascendancy continued; the political power of the monarch was gradually diminishing, and that of his ministers gradually increasing. In 1724, the primary political rival of Walpole and Townshend in the Cabinet, Lord Carteret, was dismissed from the post of Southern Secretary and instead appointed to the lesser office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Now, Walpole and Townshend were clearly the supreme forces in the ministry. They helped keep Great Britain at peace, especially by negotiating a treaty with France and Prussia in 1725. Great Britain, free from Jacobite threats, from war, and from financial crises, grew prosperous, and Robert Walpole acquired the favour of George I. In 1725, he was created a Knight of the Bath, and in 1726, a Knight of the Garter. Moreover, his eldest son (also named Robert) was granted a Barony.
Premiership under George II
British monarchs were gradually ceasing to play an active role in politics, and Walpole's position was strengthened by the fact that the new King had little knowledge of British tradition. It is often claimed that the King spoke no English but recent research has cast doubt on this reason often given for Walpole's ascendency. Walpole was soon able to assemble a small group of ministers who effectively ran the country, as whose chairman he came to be seen as the leader of the Parliamentary government. He also developed a good relationship with the future King George II, and particularly with George's wife, the Princess of Wales, Caroline of Ansbach, thus ensuring he maintained his position when the succession passed to them in 1727.
As "prime minister" from 1721 to 1742, Walpole held the kind of power that has equalled by very few ordinary politicians, before or since, but, like all politicians, he eventually succumbed to the opposition manoeuverings led by Lord Carteret - resigning after the government was accused of rigging the Chippenham by-election. He was created Earl of Orford and was given the house now known as 10 Downing Street, which he presented to the nation to be used as the official residence of future prime ministers. He died in 1745.
Walpole's administration as "first minister" had important consequences. Walpole moved Britain toward a trading economy, where British merchants generated income as shippers and the state from port fees and warehousing. He was also minister during the time of the growth of stock markets, and he saw the personal and political gains to be had from stocks. He was instrumental in getting the national debt transferred into South Sea Company stocks, thereby retiring part of the debt and enriching the directors of the South Sea Company. Walpole's "fall" took the form of an elevation to the House of Lords as Earl of Orford, where he continued to influence the government in the House of Commons for some time. His influence through giving advice to the King was described as being the "Minister behind the curtain".
Walpole's political dealing, and his political power, led to a unification of opposition forces on a scale that had rarely been seen before. He was perhaps the most satirized politician in the entire 18th century. Most notably, after the success of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, he was often compared with the master criminal Jonathan Wild (most notably in Henry Fielding's work of the same name). Walpole could count Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, Henry Fielding, and even Samuel Johnson among his enemies.
See also
| Preceded by: Henry St John |
Secretary at War 1708–1710 |
Followed by: George Granville |
| Preceded by: John Howe |
Paymaster of the Forces 1714–1715 |
Followed by: The Earl of Lincoln |
| Preceded by: The Earl of Carlisle |
First Lord of the Treasury 1715–1717 |
Followed by: James Stanhope |
| Preceded by: Sir Richard Onslow |
Chancellor of the Exchequer 1715–1717 | |
| Preceded by: The Earl of Lincoln |
Paymaster of the Forces 1720–1721 |
Followed by: The Lord Cornwallis |
| Preceded by: — |
Prime Minister of Great Britain 1721–1742 |
Followed by: The Earl of Wilmington |
| Preceded by: The Earl of Sunderland |
First Lord of the Treasury 1721–1742 | |
| Preceded by: Sir John Pratt |
Chancellor of the Exchequer 1721–1742 |
Followed by: Samuel Sandys |
| Preceded by: Unknown |
Leader of the House of Commons 1721–1742 |