Spencer Compton, first Earl of Wilmington, is a distant figure and even his birthday is unknown. There has never been a full-length biography of him. Many details of his life are lost to history.

He was born into the aristocratic Compton family, and his father had been a Royalist cavalryman during the Civil War. He studied at St Paul’s School and Trinity College, Oxford. He was a barrister to Middle Temple during the 1680s. He travelled in Europe on the ‘Grand Tour’ during his youth and was elected to Parliament in 1698.

Compton was the only Prime Minister to have sat in Parliament during the seventeenth century, having been elected MP of the ‘pocket borough’ of Eye in Suffolk in 1698, which was controlled by the Cornwallis family. He blundered in 1709 when he attacked the defendant during an impeachment trial with such spiteful enthusiasm that Lord Cornwallis, withdrew support, and he left the Commons between 1710-13. He was re-elected as the MP for East Grinstead in Sussex in 1713. In 1715 and 1722, he was elected the MP of Sussex constituency.

He never distinguished himself much as a Commons performer, but aligned himself with the Whigs, and became a member of the Kit-Cat Club, making connections amongst the Whig elite. He was appointed to the Elections and Privileges Committee, sufficiently impressing to be appointed to Paymaster of the Queen’s Pensions. With his royal connections, Compton was appointed Privy Counsellor in 1716, and Speaker of the House of Commons in 1715, which he held until 1727.

When Walpole became Prime Minister, Compton was made Paymaster of the Forces in 1722, and appointed to government as Lord Privy Seal in 1725.

Walpole raised Compton to Baron Wilmington in 1728, and he was then raised to Viscount Pevensey, Earl of Wilmington in 1730. After 1728, therefore, Wilmington sat in the House of Lords.

Compton almost became Prime Minister upon the death of George I in 1727, but Walpole’s quick thinking, and Compton’s lack of confidence and parliamentary support, simply reinforced the Walpolian status quo. Compton took his failure quite personally and never seems to have forgotten it.

Over the years that followed, Wilmington somewhat associated with the Patriotic Whigs. But he never delivered on his attempts to undermine Walpole, or on his threat to resign during the Excise Crisis of 1733.

The reason Compton became Prime Minister upon Walpole’s resignation in 1742 was because he was already part of the previous government, and while George II wanted to broaden the ministry by inviting in opposition Whigs, he wanted as much of the old management in place as possible. Wilmington expressed his worries that the ministry was not sufficiently well supported in Parliament – but ultimately ineffectively.

He was only First Lord of the Treasury for less than a year and a half (February 1742 – July 1743). Most histories of the period agree that Wilmington was really a ‘cipher’ for royal power. Politically, Compton was a courtier first and a politician second. He believed that he should serve the King.

Compton’s ministry is historically interesting because no senior member sat in the Commons at all. Running the Commons fell to Henry Pelham, then Paymaster General. Otherwise, it passed little legislation of significance (except the Place Act of 1742, which prevented MPs from being appointed to some public offices – a response to the Robinocracy).

Compton’s ministry was, in effect, a war ministry. Its activities were almost wholly related to the running of the War of the Austrian Succession. For this, Lord Carteret (Secretary of State for the Northern Department) was the dominant influence, constructing an alliance with Austria, and then promoting peace between Austria and Prussia (whose quarrel began the war), all in an effort to curb French power. He secured Hanoverian neutrality, and also constructed a multinational ‘Pragmatic Army’ in the Low Countries. Carteret also had the advantage of being able to speak German and having a friendship with the King, enabling him to brief the King easily.

Compton died in July 1743 in Westminster. He was buried in Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire, a short distance from where he had been born seven decades before.

Several settlements in British North America were named after Compton, including the cities of Wilmington, Delaware, and Wilmington, North Carolina. Additionally, the towns of Wilmington, Massachusetts, and Wilmington, Vermont are named after Compton.

Compton was also involved in charity. He was a supporter of the Foundling Hospital in London and sat on the board. In his private time, he enjoyed collecting exotic plants, coins, and medallions.

Compton never married. Horace Walpole referred to him as a ‘great lover of private debauchery’. Some sources say that he fathered children illegitimately, however there is no unambiguous evidence of this.