Robert Walpole KG KB (1676 - 1745)

Born 26 Aug 1676 in Houghton, Norfolk, England

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine (Shorter) Walpole — married 30 Jul 1700 in England

Descendants

Died 8 Mar 1745 at age 68 in London, England

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Biography

Sir Robert Walpole was a member of the aristocracy in England.

Robert Walpole was born on 26 August 1676 at Houghton in Norfolk, England.^[1]

Robert's parents were Robert Walpole, a Norfolk landowner and Member of Parliament (MP) for Castle Rising,^[1] Norfolk, and his wife, Mary, the only daughter and heir of Sir Geoffrey Burwell of Rougham, Suffolk, knight.^[2]

Robert, the fifth child and third son, had 18 siblings:^[2]

1. Edward, died 1698;^[2]
2. Burwell, died in the battle of Beachy Head on 30 June 1690;^[2]
3. Galfridus;^[3]
4. Horatio,^[3] Lord Walpole was the fifth son;^[2]

Education Robert attended Eton from 1690, become a King's Scholar, then entered King’s College, Cambridge in April 1696. He left university without matriculating in 1698, when his eldest brother died, and he became the heir to his family's estates.^[1]

Marriage and Children On 30 July 1700, Robert married Catherine Shorter, the eldest daughter of John Shorter, a Baltic merchant, of Bybrook, Kent, esq, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Philips.^[4]

Robert and Catherine had children:

1. Robert 2nd Earl of Orford, who married Margaret Rolle (17 January 1709 – 13 January 1781), later the 15th Baroness Clinton, in 1724. Their son George, 3rd Earl of Orford dsp.^[4]
2. Edward Walpole, died unmarried but had four illegitimate children with Dorothy Clement, three of whom were daughters.^[4]
3. Horatio or Horace who succeeded his nephew George as 4th Earl of Orford.^[4]
4. Mary Cholmondeley nee Walpole, who was married to George Cholmondeley, 3rd Earl of Cholmondeley;^[4] and
5. Catherine, died unmarried;^[4]

Catherine, Lady Walpole, wife of Sir Robert Walpole, Viscount Walpole and Baron Houghton, died on 20 August, 1737, was buried in Houghton, Norfolk, and her son Horace had a memorial erected in the south aisle of Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey.^[4]

Before 3 March 1738, Robert married his second wife, Maria, the daughter of Thomas Skerrett,^[3] with whom he had an 'irregular connection' while his first wife Catherine was still alive.^[5] Maria died on 4 June, 1738 from a miscarriage.^[5][6]

Robert and Maria had two illegitimate daughters:

1. a daughter died before 1738;^[5]
2. Mary (Maria) Churchill nee Walpole, for whom her father obtained from the king a patent of precedence for her as an earl's daughter, who was married to Colonel Charles Churchill, illegitimate son of General Charles Churchill, and Anne Oldfield.^[5]

Political Career Robert's father, a Whig supporter of the 'Glorious Revolution' and a constitutional monarchy for Britain, died in November 1700, and the following year Robert took his place as MP for Castle Rising.^[1] In 1702 Robert was elected MP for King's Lynn, Norfolk, and he retained this seat until February 1742, apart from a short interval in 1712,^[1] A Tory government was elected in 1710 and Walpole was found guilty of corruption and imprison in the Tower of London in 1712.^[1] Robert, 'a political moderate and an efficient administrator' was First Lord and Chancellor from April 1721 until February 1742 and is traditionally regarded as the first Prime Minister.^[1]

Offices Held

• Secretary at War in 1708^[1]
• Treasurer of the Navy in 1710 to 1711^[1]
• First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1715^[1]
• First Lord and Chancellor from April 1721 until February 1742^[1]

Robert resided at 10 Downing Street from 1735, which he refused to take as a personal gift, insisting that it become the residence of the First Lord of the Treasury.^[1]

Titles Robert was made a Knight of the Bath on 27 May 1725, and a Knight of the Garter on 26 May 1726.^[3]

George II raised Robert to the peerage as Earl of Orford,^[1] on 6 February 1742.^[3]

Death Sir Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford died at Arlington Street, London, on 8^[1] or 18 March 1745, "killed by a remedy for the stone".^[3]

Legacy

Walpole, Massachusetts is named in his honor.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13} Andrew Thompson, "Sir Robert Walpole (Whig, 1721-1742)", History of government, GOV.UK, Crown copyright, 2014, https://history.blog.gov.uk/2014/11/20/sir-robert-walpole-whig-1721-1742/, accessed 30 January 2015
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Sidney Lee, ed., Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XXXVII Maxquerier-Millyng, (London: Smith, Elder, & co., 1894), accessed 30 January 2015, https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati59stepuoft#page/178/mode/2up pp.179.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Romney R Sedgwick, ed., "WALPOLE, Robert (1676-1745), of Houghton, Norf", The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History, ( Crown copyright and The History of Parliament Trust 1964-2014, 1970), accessed 30 January 2015, http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/walpole-robert-1676-1745 .
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6} The Dean and Chapter of Westminster, "History:Famous People & the Abbey:Sir Humphrey Stanley", Westminster Abbey Founded 960, ( 2015), accessed 30 January 2015, http://westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/catherine,-lady-walpole .
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Sidney Lee, ed., Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XXXVII Maxquerier-Millyng, (London: Smith, Elder, & co., 1894), accessed 30 January 2015, https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati59stepuoft#page/204/mode/2up pp.205-6.
6. ↑ Name: Maria Right Honble. Lady Walpole Gender: Female Death Date: abt 1738 Burial Date: 10 Jun 1738 Burial Place: New Houghton, Norfolk, England FHL Film Number: 1596368 Reference ID: item 26 Source Information Ancestry.com. England, Select Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

See also:

• Dr Andrew Blick, Professor George Jones, "The Institution of Prime Minister", History of government, GOV.UK, Crown copyright, 2012, https://history.blog.gov.uk/2012/01/01/the-institution-of-prime-minister/, accessed 30 January, 2015

• Stephen Taylor, ‘Walpole, Robert, first earl of Orford (1676–1745)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 7 Sept 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes.

• Wikipedia entry for Robert Walpole

• This WikiTree profile is referenced from Wikidata: Item Q104190, en:Wikipedia