Robert Walpole Biography Quotes 27 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Robert Walpole was born in 1676 at Houghton in Norfolk, into the family of Colonel Robert Walpole and Mary Burwell. Intended for the church, he was educated at Eton College and entered King's College, Cambridge, but the death of his father in 1700 called him home to manage the estate and redirected him toward public life. His marriage in 1700 to Catherine Shorter of Bybrook, Kent, allied him with a well-connected Whig family and began a household that would produce several children, including Robert, later 2nd Earl of Orford, and Horace, the writer and statesman. Walpole's background as a conscientious landowner and his instinct for steady management would shape both his political persona and his long career in government.

Entry into Parliament and Early Advancement
Walpole entered the House of Commons in 1701 for the pocket borough of Castle Rising and shortly afterward secured the larger constituency of King's Lynn, which he would represent for decades. A committed Whig at a time when the War of the Spanish Succession and the politics of the Protestant succession dominated debate, he gained notice as an energetic committee man and reliable manager of business. Under the ministry of Lord Godolphin and with the support of the Duke of Marlborough, he was appointed Secretary at War in 1708, administering military finances and logistics. He was soon Treasurer of the Navy as well, consolidating his reputation as a practical financier of war. During the last years of Queen Anne, as Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, and Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, steered the crown toward peace and a Tory ascendancy, Walpole became a leading Whig critic, a role that would exact a personal cost.

Fall, Imprisonment, and Return
The Tory landslide of 1710 brought a new course, and Walpole was impeached in 1712 on charges connected to his administration of military funds. Expelled from the House and briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London, he emerged from that episode with an enhanced reputation among Whigs as a martyr to party principle. Returned to Parliament for King's Lynn in 1713, he helped rally resistance to Tory schemes surrounding the succession. With the Hanoverian accession in 1714, George I brought Whigs to power. Walpole resumed office, initially in financial posts, and in 1715 rose to become First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, working in tandem with Charles, Viscount Townshend, James Stanhope, and the Earl of Sunderland.

Whig Factional Strife and Recovery
The Whig Split of 1717, driven by rivalry among Sunderland, Stanhope, and Townshend, pushed Walpole into opposition. He proved formidable from the back benches, building alliances in the Commons and the City, and defending the Hanoverian settlement without surrendering his independence. The South Sea Bubble of 1720 shattered public confidence in financial management across the political spectrum. When the crash discredited previous leaders, Walpole's steady temperament and credibility as a fiscal manager brought him back to the center of power. In 1721 he again became First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, embarking on one of the longest ministerial tenures in British history.

Power under George I and George II
Walpole's ascendancy owed much to his command of the House of Commons and to his relationships at court. Under George I he cultivated trust by protecting the Hanoverian interest and by containing faction. Under George II, his partnership with Queen Caroline of Ansbach, one of the most politically astute consorts of the age, proved decisive; through her influence, Walpole translated court favor into parliamentary strength. He benefited also from alliances with Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, Henry Pelham, and Lord Hervey, who reinforced the Whig network in government. His critics, including William Pulteney and later Lord Carteret (afterward Earl Granville), jeered at a system of patronage and dubbed his long stewardship the Robinocracy, but his ability to command majorities was unrivaled.

Policy, Finance, and the Pursuit of Peace
As Chancellor, Walpole prioritized low land taxes, debt reduction, and financial stability. He supported a sinking fund to manage the national debt and maintained confidence in the Bank of England and public credit after the South Sea disaster. His commercial outlook encouraged the expansion of trade and the cautious regulation of revenue through customs and excise, though these policies were always balanced against political realities. Abroad, he labored to keep Britain at peace through arrangements such as the Treaties of Seville and Vienna, preferring negotiation and subsidy to open war. Peace, he believed, was the great ally of fiscal health and prosperity, a view that resonated with merchants and many landowners even as it drew fire from those who wanted a more assertive stance against the Bourbon powers and Spain.

Opposition, Satire, and the Limits of Power
Walpole's methods invited criticism in Parliament and in print. Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and John Gay satirized the traffic of places and pensions, with The Beggar's Opera widely read as an allegory of corruption in high places. In 1733, his attempt to shift revenue collection by extending excise to tobacco and wine ignited a nationwide campaign against perceived threats to English liberty. Pulteney harnessed the public mood and factional discontent to inflict one of Walpole's sharpest reverses; the government dropped the scheme, and the episode showed how even his powerful majority could be shaken. The death of Queen Caroline in 1737 removed a crucial ally at court, while Frederick, Prince of Wales, became a rallying point for opposition. After years of trying to avert conflict with Spain, the War of Jenkins's Ear in 1739 undercut his peace-first doctrine and opened him to charges of weakness and delay from both hawks and disappointed merchants.

Downing Street, Estates, and Family
During his tenure, Walpole accepted for the office of First Lord the house in Downing Street, setting a precedent for the residence later associated with prime ministers; he took up residence there in the 1730s as he consolidated administrative departments nearby. In Norfolk he enlarged Houghton Hall into a great Whig seat, patronizing architects and artists and assembling a notable collection. His private life evolved as well: after the death of Catherine Shorter, he married Maria Skerrett, a companion of long standing. His brother Horatio Walpole, an able diplomat, extended the family's influence abroad, and his sons carried the name forward; Robert succeeded to the earldom, and Horace became a distinctive voice in letters and politics.

Resignation, Earldom, and Death
Mounting criticism in the Commons, electoral setbacks, and a motion to inquire into government conduct drove Walpole to resign in early 1742. Elevated to the peerage as Earl of Orford, he moved to the Lords, where he offered advice but no longer directed policy. A committee of secrecy in the Commons investigated aspects of his administration, but no decisive condemnation followed. He divided his remaining years between London and Houghton, keeping up a wide correspondence and offering counsel to allies such as Newcastle and Pelham. Robert Walpole died in 1745, closing a career that had shaped the Hanoverian state and the conventions of cabinet government.

Legacy
Walpole is widely regarded as the first de facto prime minister of Great Britain, not by formal title but by practice: he chaired the cabinet, controlled the Commons, and mediated between crown and Parliament over two reigns. His combination of patronage, careful finance, and commitment to peace laid foundations for stable government and sustained growth. Even the controversies that dogged him, from the excise storm to the satire of poets and pamphleteers, helped define the limits and expectations of ministerial power in a constitutional monarchy. The networks he built and the precedents he set for collective cabinet responsibility, party management, and residence at Downing Street became part of the fabric of British governance long after his era ended.

Our collection contains 27 quotes who is written by Robert, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Ethics & Morality - Wisdom - Justice - Leadership.

Other people realated to Robert: Lord Chesterfield (Statesman), John Gay (Poet), Henry Fielding (Novelist), Daniel Defoe (Journalist), Philip Stanhope (Statesman), Horace Walpole (Author), William Kent (Architect), Henry Brooke (Novelist), Francis Atterbury (Politician), George Grenville (Statesman)