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Folllowing on from the last story, a man called Robert Walpole then became Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had been against giving the South Sea Company the trading monopoly and now George I asked him to sort things out. I said earlier that there were two main parties in the House of Commons, the Tories and the Whigs. Walpole was a member of the Whig party.
George I gave Walpole the job of sorting the mess out and in 1732 his son, George II, gave him a house to live in and the address of that house was 10, Downing Street. Officially Walpole was also First Lord of the Treasury and, after 1727, the actual Chancellor was known as the Second Lord of the Treasury. Although he was never given the title of “Prime Minister”, that title wasn't officially used until 1904, there is no doubt that for almost 21 years, Sir Robert Walpole was the prime, or first, minster in all governments of that time. As you probably know the Prime Minster has always lived at 10, Downing Street while the chancellor now lives at No. 11.
Although our Prime Minister is not our head of state, that role is taken by our king or queen, it is our Prime Minister who goes to meetings with leaders of other countries. Unlike some of their homes, he/she lives in a terraced house in a cul-de-sac, which was once home to a brewery and was later lived in by the man who arrested Guy Fawkes.
After the last private owner left the house in 1732, he was a Mr Chicken, George II made his offer to Robert Walpole. Walpole actually refused and said that the house should be made available to whoever was First Lord of Treasury but, as he was, thanks a bunch. He actually got No. 10 and the house behind and Walpole had an architect make some major changes including connecting the two buildings.
Elections to Parliament took place whenever the Prime Minister wanted in those days and so, during his 21 years in office, Walpole only called 4 elections. The results were as follows:-
1722 – Whigs 369 seats Tories 169
1727 - Whigs 415 seats Tories 128 Opposition Whigs 15
1734 - Whigs 330 seats Tories 145 Opposition Whigs 83
1741 - Whigs 286 seats Tories 136 Opposition Whigs 131
You can see two things from this. Firstly the Whig party had formed a separate opposition party and, secondly, if you do the maths, you will see that by 1741 Walpole only had a majority of 19 over the other parties. He then suffered seven defeats when the members of parliament voted on various bills and resigned as First Lord of the Treasury on 11 February 1742. He died in 1745. Just in case you live there, Walpole was member of parliament for King's Lynn.
His place in history was defined by the fact that he is always said to be the very first Prime Minister.
Just for your information I do not intend to list all UK elections or Prime Minsters. A list of Prime Ministers can be found here.
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