Robert Walpole (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745) was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 3 April 1721 to 11 February 1742, preceding the Earl of Wilmington. Walpole, a member of the Whig party, was Britain's first Prime Minister, and his moderation attracted support from both the Whigs and Tories during a period of British political history known as the "Whig supremacy". He was the father of the writer and politician Horace Walpole.
Biography[]
Robert Walpole was born in Houghton, Norfolk, England on 26 August 1676, and he came from a family of local Whig gentry. He was elected to his father's old parliamentary constituency in 1701, looking to country gentlemen for his political base. He became Secretary of War in 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession, and he survived a Tory-led impeachment attempt and went on to serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1715 to 1717 and from 1721 to 1742, also serving as Prime Minister and leader of the House of Commons from 1721 to 1742. He survived the South Sea Bubble stock-market crisis of 1720 and was tasked with sorting out the government crisis by King George I. Walpole pursued a non-interventionist foreign policy, worked for lower taxes and growing exports, and allowed slightly more tolerance for Protestant dissenters. However, the death of Queen Caroline of Ansbach in 1737 weakened Walpole's influence over King George II, and the King's estranged son, Frederick, Prince of Wales and Walpole's political opponents William Pitt the Elder and George Grenville allied against the declining elder statesman. The "Patriot Whigs" under Pitt opposed Walpole's non-interventionist policies, and, in the 1734 general election, Walpole's Whigs lost 85 seats and were reduced to 330 seats, while the Patriot Whigs won in 68 more constituencies to gain a total of 83 seats. In 1741, the Whigs dropped to 286 seats, while the Patriot Whigs rose to 131 seats. Due to his electoral defeat and naval defeats during the War of Jenkins' Ear with Spain, Walpole was forced out of office on 11 February 1742, losing a motion of no-confidence over a supposedly rigged by-election. His supporters then reconciled with the Patriot Whigs to form a new government. Walpole died in 1745 at the age of 68.