Sir Edward Walpole KB PC (Ire) (1706 – 12 January 1784) was a British politician, and a younger son of Sir

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prim ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

from 1721 to 1742.

Early life

The second son of Sir Robert Walpole, he was educated at Eton (1718) and

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

(1725) and studied law at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

(1723), where he was called to the bar in 1727. He undertook a Grand Tour in Italy in 1730.

Political career

Walpole first entered

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as Member for

Lostwithiel Lostwithiel (; ) is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 census. The Lostwi ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

on 29 April 1730, following the death of Sir Edward Knatchbull earlier that month. He was appointed junior Secretary to the Treasury the same year. On 2 May 1734, in the next general election, he succeeded his uncle Horatio Walpole as Member of Parliament for

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

in Norfolk, retaining the seat for nearly 34 years until the 1768 election, when his first cousin the Hon. Richard Walpole (son of Lord Walpole of Wolterton) replaced him. On 7 September 1737 the Duke of Devonshire was named

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

, and Walpole his Chief Secretary, though he also continued as Secretary to the Treasury. Walpole was sworn of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

on 8 October that year and stood for

Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 road (Ireland), N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 road (Ireland), N15 crosses the River Erne. The town was inc ...

in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

, a seat he held until 1760. On 9 May 1739 Edward Walpole's elder brother Robert, Lord Walpole resigned his post of Clerk of the Pells in order to become an Auditor of the Exchequer, and Edward was appointed to succeed him, holding the office until his death. On 27 August 1753 Walpole was made a Knight Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

, the order re-founded by his father in 1725.

Family

Walpole lived for a time at Frogmore House in Windsor,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

which he bought in 1748 and sold in 1766. He then bought a house in Windsor, which he gave to his daughter Laura Keppel in 1778, and spent his last years in Isleworth, where he died in 1784. He had never married, but had a son (who predeceased him) and three daughters by his partner Dorothy Clement: * Laura, who married 13 September 1758 the Hon. and Rev. Frederick Keppel (later

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024. From the first bishop until the sixteent ...

) and died 27 July 1813, leaving issue; * Maria, who married firstly 15 May 1759, the Earl Waldegrave, and secondly 6 September 1766, the Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and died 22 August 1807, leaving issue by both marriages; *Edward, born 22 August 1737 and died 1771, without issue; * Charlotte, born 9 December 1738,''The Third Register Book of the Parish of St James in the Liberty of Westminster For Births & Baptisms. 1723-1741''. 3 January 1738. married 2 October 1760 Lionel Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower (later Earl of Dysart) and died 5 September 1789, without issue.

References

Sources

* John Burke, '' A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland and Scotland, extinct, dormant and in abeyance'', Colburn and Bentley, 1831 * Joseph Haydn and Horace Ockerby (ed.), ''The Book of Dignities'', 3rd edition, W.H. Allen and Co. Ltd, 1894, reprinted 1969
thepeerage.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walpole, Edward 1706 births 1784 deaths Politicians from Windsor, Berkshire Children of prime ministers of Great Britain People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Donegal constituencies Irish MPs 1727–1760 Knights Companion of the Order of the Bath Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Robert Walpole Younger sons of earls Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall Politics of the Borough of Great Yarmouth

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

Chief secretaries for Ireland