Sir Spencer Walpole KCB, FBA (6 February 1839 – 7 July 1907) was an English

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and civil servant.

Background

He came of the younger branch of the '' de facto'' first prime minister,

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 ...

who revived the Whig Party, being a patrilineal descendant of one of his brothers, the 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton. His father Spencer Horatio Walpole (1807–1898) was three times

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

under the 14th Earl of Derby. Through his mother he was a grandson of

Spencer Perceval Spencer Perceval (1 November 1762 – 11 May 1812) was a British statesman and barrister who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. He is the only British prime minister to have been as ...

, the

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

prime minister. The only mainstream political parties in his lifetime which were at that time taking shape as the Liberal and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

parties were therefore closely connected to him at birth, and each party icon formed one half of his name.

Career

Spencer Walpole was educated at Eton, and from 1858 to 1867 was a clerk in the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

, then becoming an inspector of fisheries. In 1867 he married Marion Jane Murray; they had one son and one daughter. In 1882 he was made lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Man, and from 1893 to 1899 he was secretary to the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

. In 1898 he was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed. A most efficient public servant and in private life well-conversed, Walpole became a successfully published historian. His family connections gave him a natural affinity for the study of public affairs, and their mingling of Whig and Tory policies of past and present contributed to a deliberately reasoned, judicious and balanced view of English political figures – he inclined, however, to the Whig or moderate Liberal side, including in his writing. His principal work, the ''History of England from 1815'' (1878–1886), in six volumes, was carried down to 1858, and was continued in his ''History of Twenty-Five Years'' (4 vol. 1904). Among his other publications come his lives of Spencer Perceval (1894) and

Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 186 ...

(1889), and a volume of valuable ''Studies in Biography'' (1906). His name is commemorated in Walpole Park in Ealing, formerly the grounds of his family home Pitzhanger Manor, both of which were purchased by Ealing Council in 1899.

Bibliography

* Walpole, Spencer. ''A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815'' (6 vol. Longmans, Green, and Company, 1878–86.
online free

WorldCat holdings in 434 libraries worldwide
* Walpole, Spencer. ''History of Twenty-Five Years'' (4 vol. 1904–1908) covers 1856–1880
online freeWorldCat holdings in 228 libraries worldwide

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walpole, Spencer 1839 births 1907 deaths People educated at Eton College 19th-century English historians Secretaries of the General Post Office Civil servants in the War Office Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Lieutenant governors of the Isle of Man Spencer Fellows of the British Academy 20th-century English historians