An extended profile on Sir Robert Walpole

By Alijan Kirk

One of my greatest annoyances when it comes to politics has to be just how uneducated people are about it. As a public, we’re expected to vote for who we want in power, yet we know so little about them and what they stand for. Don’t even get me started on political history. History is getting more and more under-appreciated, and if you want to know about politics, you don’t just need to know what’s happening now, you need to know what happened in the past.

Abig part of American History education is devoted to making sure students know each and every President of the United States. Yet in Britain, I would be shocked if the average person could name a single Prime Minister from before their lifetimes, excluding Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, depending on how young you are.

To put it simply, I want more people to know who our Prime Ministers were. I personally believe Lancashire to be one of the greatest counties in this country, if not the single greatest. I am determined to have Lancashire champion not just local history, but national history because we are a county that goes above and beyond. So over the next year, I am going to profile each of our Prime Ministers, get in a few key points and maybe even throw in something local about them. I haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to give just the facts straight up or add my own personal spin. It can be a surprise for you all.

I’m intending to cover five Prime Ministers an issue over the next year, and I thought we could get the ball rolling with an extended profile on our de facto first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

Robert Walpole will always have an important role in British political history as being our first and longest serving Prime Minister. A Whig and the MP for King’s Lynn, Walpole benefited from the new King, George I, having a distrust of the Tory party. The King believed that the Tories opposed his right to succeed the throne. Thanks to this, the Whigs ascended to power where they would remain for the next fifty years. Another benefit for Walpole was that his brother-in-law, Lord Townshend was one of the most dominating figures in the Cabinet, which Walpole was now in as Paymaster of the Forces. In 1715, the head of the administration, Lord Halifax, died and within the year, Walpole had been appointed both First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. However, the Cabinet was often divided over important issues, usually split by Walpole and Lord Townshend on one side of the argument, and James Stanhope and Lord Sunderland on the other. One of the dominating issues of the rifts was foreign policy, especially in regards to the belief that the King was conducting foreign affairs in the interest of his German territories as opposed to Great Britain. The King himself gave his support to the Stanhope-Sutherland faction, and in 1719 they had Lord Townshend removed from his posts. The next day, Walpole resigned from the Cabinet in protest and joined the Opposition. 

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 This began what was known as the ‘Whig Split’, which kept the party divided for three years.

Following the Stanhope-Sutherland Government’s failure to get their Peerage Bill passed, the two reconciled with Walpole and Townshend, who were appointed as Paymaster of the Forces and Lord President of the Council respectively. By 1721, Sunderland had resigned following a corruption scandal and Stanhope had died, leaving Walpole as the most important figure in the Government. That April, he was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. It was this moment that most date as the beginning of Walpole’s tenure as Prime Minister, although he rejected that title. The title Prime Minister wouldn’t come to use until the late 19th century.

As Prime Minister, Walpole was able to defend the credibility of the King and the Whig Party in Parliament following the financial crisis brought on by the South Sea Bubble as well as expose a Jacobite plot formed by the bishop of Rochester. Walpole’s number two, Lord Townshend, who was in charge of foreign affairs, helped keep Britain at peace, negotiating a treaty with France and Prussia in 1725. With Britain now free from Jacobite threats, war and financial crises, the country grew prosperous and Walpole acquired great favour from the King.

In 1727, Walpole’s position came under threat. The King had died and was succeeded by his son, George II, who had initially liked Walpole, but fell out of favour after joining George I’s government, which George II had shown disdain for. In the initial few days, it looked like Walpole would be dismissed but following advice from the Queen, the King agreed to retain him. In addition, Townshend remained, despite the King’s dislike of him. The Walpole-Townshend partnership continued to operate for the next few years but started to clash over foreign affairs, particularly in regards to Austria. Walpole gradually became the more dominant of the two and Townshend retired in May 1730. The departure of Townshend enabled Walpole to get the Treaty of Vienna signed, thus creating an alliance between the two nations, lasting until 1756, when Walpole was out of office.

Walpole had a policy of war avoidance, which secured him the support of both the people and the House of Commons. Furthermore, he had enough influence by 1733 to prevent the King from entering the War of the Polish Succession, which Walpole understood was a dispute between the Houses of Bourbon and Habsburg and thus did not require British intervention. By avoiding war, Walpole was able to lower taxes. He reduced the national debt with a sinking fund, as well as negotiating lower interest rates. He also reduced the land tax to only one shilling by 1732. The next year, Walpole had brought a bill to impose excise taxes on wine and tobacco, however it was extremely unpopular and was strongly opposed by the nation’s merchants. Walpole therefore agreed to withdraw the bill before Parliament voted on it but he dismissed the politicians who dared to oppose it in the first place, resulting in him losing a considerable element of the Whig Party to the Opposition.

Following the election of 1734, Walpole’s government was returned to the Commons with a smaller majority. While he maintained his parliamentary supremacy and popularity in his constituency, Walpole’s broader popularity had begun to wane. An increase in the tax on gin in 1736 caused riots in London, and in Edinburgh, the even more serious Porteous riots broke out after the King pardoned a captain who commanded his troops to shoot a group of protesters. While Walpole’s popularity decreased, his parliamentary majority remained and he highlighted his domination over the Commons by easily securing the rejection of a plan to reduce the interest on the national debt. Walpole was also able to persuade Parliament to pass the Licensing Act of 1737, which regulated London theatres, as well as revealing a disdain of the literary figures who attacked his government in their works.

As 1737 progressed, it was becoming clear that Walpole was on the decline. His close friend and supporter Queen Caroline died, and while his increased influence with the King remained, Walpole was struggling to maintain his domination of Parliament. His opponents also acquired a vocal leader in the Prince of Wales, who was deeply estranged from his father, and several young politicians including future Prime Ministers George Grenville and William Pitt the Elder formed a faction known as the Patriot Boys and joined the Prince of Wales in opposition.

Walpole’s eventual fall from power came from his failure to maintain his policy of avoiding military conflict. Following disputes with Spain, Walpole failed to convince the King, the House of Commons and his own Cabinet to not go to war and thus commenced the War of Jenkins’ Ear. Following the 1741 election, the new Parliament thought that the aging Walpole was incapable of leading the military campaign. With Walpole’s detractors now as numerous as his supporters, he was investigated on charges of presiding over increases of corruption. In 1742, the House of Commons was prepared to determine the validity of a by-election in Chippenham, which Walpole agreed to treat as a motion of no confidence. Walpole was defeated in that vote. On those grounds, Walpole agreed to resign from the Government and the news of naval disaster in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias had prompted the end of his political career. When handing in his resignation, the King reportedly wept and begged to see him frequently. Walpole would remain politically involved as an advisor, and his former colleagues were still pleased to see him. Upon his resignation, Sir Robert Walpole was elevated to the House of Lords and was made the Earl of Orford. 