"behalf. Since the office evolved rather than being instantly created, it may not be totally clear-cut who was the first Prime Minister. However, this appellation is traditionally given to Sir Robert Walpole, who became First Lord of the Treasury in 1721. In 1720, the South Sea Company, created to trade in cotton, agricultural goods and slaves, collapsed, causing the financial ruin of thousands of investors and heavy losses for many others, including members of the royal family. King George I called on Robert Walpole, well known for his political and financial acumen, to handle the emergency. With considerable skill and"
"Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British who is generally regarded as the ""de facto"" first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Although the exact dates of Walpole's dominance, dubbed the ""Robinocracy"", are a matter of scholarly debate, the period 1721–1742 is often used. He dominated the Walpole–Townshend ministry and the subsequent Walpole ministry and holds the record as the longest-serving British prime minister in history. Speck says that Walpole's uninterrupted run of 20 years as Prime Minister ""is rightly regarded as one"
"of British politics with rare genius, from 1721 to 1742. He was thus the first prime minister (the term itself was in use by 1727). He was followed as prime minister by his two disciples, Henry Pelham (1743–1754) and Pelham's brother the Duke of Newcastle (1754–1762). Historian Clayton Roberts summarizes his new functions: He monopolized the counsels of the King, he closely superintended the administration, he ruthlessly controlled patronage, and he led the predominant party in Parliament. Corporate stock was a new phenomenon, not well understood except for the strong gossip among financiers that fortunes could be made overnight. The"
"of Lords of Great Britain. On 23 October 1707, John Smith (1655–1723), MP (Whig) for Andover since 1695, was elected the first Speaker of the House of Commons of Great Britain. Smith had been the Speaker of the House of Commons of England since 1705. When this Parliament took place no office of Prime Minister existed. Government in 1707 has been characterized as a ""no party"" coalition, a mixture of Tory and Whig ministers, led by a triumvirate consisting of Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin (the Lord High Treasurer and dominant minister at the time), Robert Harley (Secretary of"
"Records of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom The article lists the records of Prime Ministers of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom since 1721. The Prime Minister with the longest single term was Sir Robert Walpole, lasting 20 years and 315 days from 3 April 1721 until 11 February 1742. This is also longer than the accumulated terms of any other Prime Minister. The shortest period in office is more confused, depending on the criteria. The shortest ever period was only three days, a record held by Lord Bath, from 10 February to 12 February 1746, who was"
"grouping while Walpole and Townshend opposed them. In 1717, consequent on changes in the ministry, Stanhope was made First Lord of the Treasury, and was the last Chancellor of the Exchequer to sit in the House of Lords. A year later he returned to his former office of secretary for the southern department. On 3 July 1717, he was created Baron Stanhope of Elvaston and Viscount Stanhope of Mahon and, on 14 April 1718, Earl Stanhope. He was in all but name ""Prime Minister"" and is sometimes presented as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, rather than Sir Robert"
"request of the ministry. The economic crisis, known as the South Sea Bubble, made George and his ministers extremely unpopular. In 1721 Lord Stanhope, though personally innocent, collapsed and died after a stressful debate in the House of Lords, and Lord Sunderland resigned from public office. Sunderland, however, retained a degree of personal influence with George until his sudden death in 1722 allowed the rise of Sir Robert Walpole. Walpole became ""de facto"" Prime Minister, although the title was not formally applied to him (officially, he was First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer). His management of"
"Timeline of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom This is a graphical timeline of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom from when the first Prime Minister in the modern sense, Robert Walpole, took office in 1721, until the present day. This timeline shows most of the early life, the political career and death of each Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846. The first Prime Minister was Robert Walpole in the early 18th century . Unlike countries where the leader is elected directly to the highest political office of a separate executive, the Prime Minister must first establish a"
"Eleven Prime Ministers have served their entire terms as Members of the House of Commons but were elevated to the House of Lords afterwards by being created peers: In contrast 17 Prime Ministers preceding the current (Theresa May) have never become members of the House of Lords. Henry Pelham (served 1743 to his death in 1754) was the first to be a lifelong 'Commoner' but the convention of Prime Ministers leading from the House of Commons only became established in the 20th century. Holders of Irish peerages (with the exception of 28 Irish representative peers allowed after 1801, who were"
"Leburn. Timeline of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom This is a graphical timeline of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom from when the first Prime Minister in the modern sense, Robert Walpole, took office in 1721, until the present day. This timeline shows most of the early life, the political career and death of each Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846. The first Prime Minister was Robert Walpole in the early 18th century . Unlike countries where the leader is elected directly to the highest political office of a separate executive, the Prime Minister must first establish"
"could command the loyalty of the Commons was increasingly necessary. The long tenure of the wartime prime minister William Pitt the Younger (1783–1801), combined with the mental illness of George III, consolidated the power of the post. The title was first referred to on government documents during the administration of Benjamin Disraeli but did not appear in the formal British Order of precedence until 1905. The prestige of British institutions in the 19th century and the growth of the British Empire saw the British model of cabinet government, headed by a prime minister, widely copied, both in other European countries"
"time at his home in Hanover, and had neither knowledge of, nor interest in, the details of English government. In these circumstances it was inevitable that the king's first minister would become the de facto head of the government. From 1721 this was the Whig politician Robert Walpole, who held office for twenty-one years. Walpole chaired cabinet meetings, appointed all the other ministers, dispensed the royal patronage and packed the House of Commons with his supporters. Under Walpole, the doctrine of cabinet solidarity developed. Walpole required that no minister other than himself have private dealings with the king, and also"
"Henry Campbell-Bannerman Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1908. He also served as Secretary of State for War twice, in the Cabinets of Gladstone and Rosebery. He was the first First Lord of the Treasury to be officially called ""Prime Minister"", the term only coming into official usage five days after he took office. He also remains the only person to date to hold the positions of Prime"
"some time between 1701 and 1751: Though he held a barony in his own right, from 1742 to 1745 Lord Walpole ranked higher by precedence as the eldest son of an earl. Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford (1701 – 31 March 1751), was a British peer and politician, stylised as Viscount Walpole from 1723 to 1745. He was the eldest son of Sir Robert Walpole (1676–1745), the King's First Minister, now regarded as the first Prime Minister, by his first wife Catherine Shorter. In 1723 his father declined a peerage for himself but"
"statutory duties as Prime Minister, his name occurs in no Acts of Parliament, and though holding the most important place in the constitutional hierarchy, he has no place which is recognised by the laws of his country. This is a strange paradox."" In 1905 the position was given some official recognition when the ""Prime Minister"" was named in the order of precedence, outranked, among non-royals, only by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Lord Chancellor. The first Act of Parliament to mention the Premiership – albeit in"
"many speculators. Investigations showed bribes had reached into high places—even to the king. Robert Walpole managed to wind it down with minimal political and economic damage, although some losers fled to exile or committed suicide. Robert Walpole is now generally regarded as the first Prime Minister, from, 1719–42, and indeed he invented the role. The term was applied to him by friends and foes alike by 1727. Historian Clayton Roberts summarizes his new functions: Walpole was a master of the effective use of patronage, as were his two disciples who succeeded him as prime minister, Henry Pelham (1743–1754) and Pelham's"
"the middle name until the 1980s.) The richest Prime Minister was Lord Derby, with a personal fortune of over £7 million (about £444 million in today's money). The poorest was William Pitt the Younger, who was £40,000 (now over £1 million) in debt by 1800. Three Prime Ministers ultimately died as a result of accidents: Records of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom The article lists the records of Prime Ministers of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom since 1721. The Prime Minister with the longest single term was Sir Robert Walpole, lasting 20 years and 315 days from"
"T. Clifford. After 1714, the Treasury was always in commission. The commissioners were referred to as the Lords of the Treasury and were given a number based on their seniority. Eventually the First Lord of the Treasury came to be seen as the natural head of government, and from Robert Walpole on, the holder of the office began to be known, unofficially, as the Prime Minister. Until 1827, the First Lord of the Treasury, when a commoner, also held the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, while if the First Lord was a peer, the Second Lord usually served as"
"July 1706, and then ratified by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland each passing an Act of Union in 1707. The English and Scottish parliaments were replaced by a combined parliament, the first Parliament of Great Britain. It sat in Westminster and largely continued English traditions without interruption. Forty-five Scots were added to the 513 members of the House of Commons and 16 Scots to the 190 members of the House of Lords. It was also a full economic union, replacing the Scottish systems of currency, taxation and laws regulating trade. The role of prime minister began"
"official recognition given to the office had only been in the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, when Disraeli signed as ""First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister of her Britannic Majesty"". It wasn't until 7 years later, in 1885, did the official records entrench the institution of Prime Minister, using ""Prime Minister"" at the list of Government ministers printed in Hansard. Incumbents had no statutory authority in their own right. As late as 1904, Arthur Balfour explained the status of his office in a speech at Haddington: ""The Prime Minister has no salary as Prime Minister. He has no"
"century as a convention of the constitution, the position of Leader of the Opposition was given statutory recognition in 1937 by the Ministers of the Crown Act. British Prime Ministers have never been elected directly by the public. A Prime Minister need not be a party leader; David Lloyd George was not a party leader during his service as prime Minister during World War I, and neither was Ramsay MacDonald from 1931 to 1935. Prime Ministers have taken office because they were members of either the Commons or Lords, and either inherited a majority in the Commons or won more"
"de facto first minister to be a prime minister was Robert Walpole in 1721. The central achievement of Harley's government was the negotiation of the Treaty of Utrecht with France in 1713, which brought an end to twelve years of English and Scottish involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1714 Harley fell from favour following the accession of the first monarch of the House of Hanover, George I, and was for a time imprisoned in the Tower of London by his political enemies. He was also a noted literary figure and served as a patron of both"
"of the President of the Executive Yuan. The United Kingdom's constitution, being uncodified and largely unwritten, makes no mention of a prime minister. Though it had ""de facto"" existed for centuries, its first mention in official state documents did not occur until the first decade of the twentieth century. Accordingly, it is often said ""not to exist"", indeed there are several instances of parliament declaring this to be the case. The prime minister sits in the cabinet solely by virtue of occupying another office, either First Lord of the Treasury (office in commission), or more rarely Chancellor of the Exchequer"
"Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869) was a British statesman, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and, to date, the longest-serving leader of the Conservative Party. He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley. He is one of only four British prime ministers to have three or more separate periods in office. However, his ministries all lasted less than two years and totalled three years and 280 days. Historian Frances Walsh says it was, Stanley was"
"Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford (1701 – 31 March 1751), was a British peer and politician, stylised as Viscount Walpole from 1723 to 1745. He was the eldest son of Sir Robert Walpole (1676–1745), the King's First Minister, now regarded as the first Prime Minister, by his first wife Catherine Shorter. In 1723 his father declined a peerage for himself but did accept the offer on behalf of his 22-year-old son Robert who was thus raised to the peerage as Baron Walpole, of Walpole in the County of Norfolk. On c. 26 March"
"head the government. First Stanhope–Sunderland ministry Robert Walpole and Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend were removed from their positions in the government (the latter having already previously been demoted to Lord Lieutenant of Ireland), and were replaced by James Stanhope, 1st Viscount Stanhope of Mahon and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, who cooperatively led the first Stanhope–Sunderland ministry. The two Whigs remained in power from 1717 to 1721, although in 1718, Lord Stanhope exchanged positions with Lord Sunderland to form the second Stanhope–Sunderland ministry. Upon Lord Stanhope's death, Robert Walpole, widely considered the first true Prime Minister of Great"
"recommending a successor, the party was unable to nominate one. It fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords. A handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all prime ministers have been members of the Commons; the sole exception, the 14th Earl of Home, disclaimed his peerage three days after becoming"
"the first non-English constituency to be represented by a serving prime minister. The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union, 1707 and replaced the former Parliament of Scotland shire constituency of Edinburghshire. As first used, in 1708 general election of the Parliament of Great Britain, the constituency covered the county of Edinburgh, except the burgh of Edinburgh, which was covered by the Edinburgh burgh constituency. 1708 boundaries were used also for all subsequent elections of that parliament. In 1801 the Parliament of Ireland was merged with the Parliament of Great Britain to form the Parliament"
"First Stanhope–Sunderland ministry Robert Walpole and Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend were removed from their positions in the government (the latter having already previously been demoted to Lord Lieutenant of Ireland), and were replaced by James Stanhope, 1st Viscount Stanhope of Mahon and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, who cooperatively led the first Stanhope–Sunderland ministry. The two Whigs remained in power from 1717 to 1721, although in 1718, Lord Stanhope exchanged positions with Lord Sunderland to form the second Stanhope–Sunderland ministry. Upon Lord Stanhope's death, Robert Walpole, widely considered the first true Prime Minister of Great Britain, returned to"
"died in disgrace; the remainder were impeached for their corruption. Aislabie was found guilty and imprisoned, but the personal influence of Walpole saved both Stanhope and Sunderland. For his role in preventing these individuals and others from being punished, Walpole gained the nickname of ""The Screen"", or ""Screenmaster-General"". The resignation of Sunderland and the death of Stanhope in 1721 left Walpole as the most important figure in the administration. In April 1721 he was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Walpole's ""de facto"" tenure as ""Prime Minister"" is often"
"elected from among their peers) legally did not sit in the House of Lords in the Parliaments of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, but were allowed to sit in the House of Commons. Lord Palmerston was the only Irish peer to serve as Prime Minister, thus leading from the House of Commons. The shortest period between entering Parliament and being appointed Prime Minister was achieved by William Pitt the Younger who became Prime Minister two years after first becoming an MP. The longest period of service as an MP before becoming Prime Minister was 47 years for Lord Palmerston."
"on the side of innocence, Emmeline Pankhurst, leading suffragette which helped win women the right to vote, William Wilberforce, leading parliamentary abolitionist. An influential thinker in the history of liberalism, 19th century philosopher, political economist and politician John Stuart Mill justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control. A member of the Liberal Party, he was also the first Member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage. Robert Walpole is generally regarded as the first British Prime Minister (1721–1742). Twice Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, founded the Conservative party (which was expanded by Benjamin"
"for Robert Walpole, son of Sir Robert Walpole in honour of and during the lifetime of his father, the ""de facto"" first Prime Minister of Great Britain, with special remainder, failing male issue, to his brothers Edward Walpole and Horace Walpole, in default of this then to the heirs male of his father, and in default of this then to the heirs male of his grandfather Sir Thomas Walpole. On Sir Robert Walpole's retirement from the House of Commons in 1742, he received the titles, Baron Walpole of Houghton in the County of Norfolk, Viscount Walpole and Earl of Orford,"