First among equals
This year is the 300th anniversary of the first ministry of Sir Robert Walpole, a figure widely recognised as our first Prime Minister. John Goodall looks at the life and achievements of this extraordinary man
Sir Robert Walpole, lauded and excoriated in turn, was the first to hold the office of Prime Minister, 300 years ago this April. John Goodall looks back at his life
OVER the late summer of 1720, a financial scheme to reduce government debt collapsed in spectacular fashion. The South Sea Bubble—so called after the company involved—discredited the leading figures of the government and court. It also created the opportunity for an ambitious politician with a reputation for economic expertise to establish himself in power: Sir Robert Walpole. Until his fall more than 20 years later, he dominated British politics and became known as ‘prime minister’.
Walpole’s six-month imprisonment in the Tower turned him into a Whig celebrity
Robert was born at the Walpole family seat of Houghton Hall, Norfolk, on August 26, 1676, the fifth of 15 children. His namesake father was a scholar, bibliophile and agricultural improver. In politics, Sir Robert Snr was a Whig, the faction advocating constitutional monarchy. In 1698, following the death of his two eldest sons, he recalled Robert from his education as the prospective heir of the family estate and, four months after having organised a lucrative marriage for him in July 1700, he died, leaving the 24-year-old Walpole in control of his own affairs.
Walpole’s wife, Catherine Shorter, was reputedly very beautiful, whereas her husband was already inclined to be corpulent. Their marriage was initially happy and produced several children. The couple spent much time in London, living extravagantly, but, within a decade, they became estranged and both went in search of lovers. Years later, when Catherine died in 1737, Walpole swiftly married his longstanding mistress, Maria Skerrett.
On his inheritance, Walpole immediately secured election to the House of Commons for Castle Rising, Norfolk, in 1701. Helped by such county neighbours as the 2nd Viscount Townshend, of Raynham Hall, he entered the circle of young Whigs and was elected to their Kit-cat Club in 1703. He played a leading role in the Whig impeachment of the clergyman Henry Sacheverell, a cause célèbre of the day that backfired politically. The ensuing 1710 election returned a rival Tory ministry and, when Walpole refused to support it, he was charged with corruption. On January 17, 1712, a partisan vote in the House of Commons found him guilty of ‘breach of trust and notorious corruption’ in office and he was sent to the Tower of London.
Walpole’s imprisonment lasted six months and turned him into a Whig celebrity. When George I acceded to the throne in 1714—the so-called Hanoverian Succession—he was suspicious of the Tories, whom he regarded
as supporters of the rival Jacobite claim to the throne, and established a Whig ministry. Walpole now emerged with Townshend (since July 1713, also his brother-in-law) as leading figures within it. In the same period, he also became mysteriously, but stupendously rich.
Accusations of corruption exacerbated a political rift that divided the Whigs and brought about Walpole’s fall from office in 1717. That split, in turn, became bound up with a feud between George I and his heir, the Prince of Wales. Walpole (with Townshend) allied himself to the latter and struck up a particularly important connection with the Prince’s wife and future queen, Caroline.
In the meantime, the two men delighted to torment their Whig rivals in the House of Commons, allying with Tory interests to do so. Only when the royal feud was patched up were the pair admitted back to office and then, a few months later, the South Sea Bubble burst, leaving many of their chief opponents broken.
Contrary to popular belief, Walpole probably lost money in the bubble, but he otherwise invested successfully in the City and now enjoyed great wealth. It was partly because of his financial expertise that he was appointed First Lord of the Treasury on April 3, 1721. It is from this date, 300 years ago, that his term of office as Prime Minister is generally dated. Initially, however, he continued to work closely with Townshend. It also took time for his Whig rivals to fall away.
Walpole respected and extended the principle of restructuring government debt that was enshrined in the South Sea Company. He also protected those implicated in the bubble, earning him the abusive nickname
‘the screen’. It was further helpful to Walpole that, in April 1722, he received information about a Jacobite plot involving Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester. Walpole exposed the plot and fleshed out its details with falsified evidence, consolidating both Whig and royal support.
Hitherto, the leaders of ministries had usually operated from the House of Lords. Walpole, by contrast, refused a peerage and was, consequently, the only minister in his cabinet until the 1730s to have a seat in the House of Commons. There, he used his patronage to command support. Instead of a title, he was appointed to the newly
revived Order of the Bath in 1725 and then, the following year, to the Order of the Garter.
Now wealthy and powerful, Walpole also began to rebuild his family seat at Houghton. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on May 24, 1722, and was later described by one contemporary, Sir Thomas Robinson, as ‘the best house in the world for its size’. Walpole also collected on a princely scale, although many of his paintings were sold in 1779 to Catherine the Great of Russia.
In 1727, George I died and Walpole’s rapport with George II’S queen, Caroline, helped carry him through the transition of power. At the same time, his relationship with Townshend also began to break down, aided, no doubt, by the death of Walpole’s sister in 1726. As a result, Walpole now properly emerged as the sole leader of government, in what was contemptuously dubbed by its critics in the weekly paper The Craftsman the ‘Robinocracy’ (after the diminutive of his Christian name, Robert).
Walpole’s policies included a determination to keep Britain out of foreign wars, to manage her debt and to transfer the burden of tax from the land to the commercial economy.
He combined that latter change with an emphasis on excise rather than customs tax, a change that massively increased government revenue and provoked strong opposition in the 1730s. No less vital to his political success was his support of the Church of England and the promotion of Whig sympathisers within its predominantly Tory ranks.
In 1735, George II offered Walpole a residence just off Whitehall, an architectural amalgam of two houses that is now familiar as No 10, Downing Street. At Walpole’s request, this became the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury, hence its occupation to the present day by Prime Ministers. A brass plaque on the door still bears that name. The architect and designer William Kent, who also worked for him at Houghton
Hall, refashioned the building and Walpole took up residence on September 22, 1735.
The causes of Walpole’s fall and resignation in 1742 were many and varied. They included his deteriorating health, reverses in the War of Jenkins’ Ear from 1739, political difficulties in Ireland and Scotland, electoral defeats, the death of Queen Caroline (in 1737) and another royal feud between George II and Frederick, Prince of Wales. He died on March 18, 1745, and was buried at Houghton.
The modern visitor can still encounter Walpole as he wished to be remembered in the magnificent Stone Hall at Houghton: his bust, swathed in a toga, describes him as ‘first amongst the British Senate’, a title echoing that of the Emperor Augustus. His critics, of course, saw things very differently. In Jonathan Swift’s satire Gulliver’s Travels (1726) he appears thinly disguised as the minister best able to perform on the perilous tightrope before the emperor of Lilliput. Moreover, it is with reference to Walpole and his brand of ‘greatness’ that the hugely popular Beggar’s Opera by John Gay (1728) draws pointed comparison between the behaviour of criminals and politicians.
His bust, swathed in a toga, describes him as “first amongst the British Senate”