Col Robert WALPOLE [35877]

  General Notes:

Robert Walpole (colonel)

Colonel
Robert Walpole
MP
Member of Parliament
for Castle Rising
In office
January 1689 \endash 18 November 1700
Personal details
Born18 November 1650
Norfolk, England
Died18 November 1700 (aged 50)
Political partyWhig
SpouseMary Burwell
Children19, including Robert, Horatio, Elizabeth, Galfridus, and Dorothy
ResidenceHoughton Hall
OccupationPolitician and soldier
Colonel Robert Walpole (18 November 1650 \endash 18 November 1700) was an English Whig politician and militia officer who served as a member of parliament for the borough of Castle Rising from 1689 to 1700.[1][2] He is best known for being the father of Robert Walpole, the first British Prime Minister.[3] Walpole is the ancestor of all the Barons Walpole and Earls of Orford, of all creations, and of the present Marquess of Cholmondeley, owner of Houghton Hall. He is also the Guinness World Records holder for having the world's longest overdue public library book.[4]

Origins

Ledger stone of Robert Walpole (1650\endash 1700), Church of St Martin of Tours, Houghton, Norfolk. Showing arms of Walpole impaling Burwell
He was born at Houghton Hall in 1650, the son and heir of Edward Walpole (d.1668) of Houghton (the family seat for over four decades[5]), by his wife Susan Crane.[3] His father ardently supported the Restoration of the Monarchy to King Charles II and was subsequently created a Knight of the Bath.[6]

Political career
In January 1689, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Castle Rising in Norfolk,[7] and was considered the most influential Whig in Norfolk and one of the most influential Whigs in Parliament.[7] He served as a Deputy Lieutenant for Norfolk when Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk was Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk.

Marriage and issue

Arms of Burwell: Or, a chevron ermine between three bur (oak) leaves erect vert[8] (Quercus macrocarpa, the bur oak, commonly spelled burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America)
In 1671 he married Mary Burwell, daughter and heiress of Sir Geoffrey Burwell of Rougham in Suffolk,[9][10] by whom he had nineteen children, of whom only nine survived, two being stillborn and eight dying in infancy:[11]

Sons
Edward Walpole (1674\endash ?)
Burwell Walpole (1675\endash ?)
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (1676\endash 1745), eldest surviving son and heir, who shortly after his father's death became a Member of Parliament and later held the offices of Secretary at War, Treasurer of the Navy, Paymaster of the Forces, First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Leader of the House of Commons, and became the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.[12] He remained a Member of Parliament for forty years.[13]
John Walpole (1677\endash ?)

Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole
Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole (1678\endash 1757), one of the earliest holders of that first name in England, later much used by his family and by his illustrious cousin Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758\endash 1805), his father's great-great grandson, born one year after 1st Baron Walpole's death. Horatio was a character in Shakespeare's 1599/1601 play Hamlet. He was a Member of Parliament for fifty-four years from 1702 until his death in 1757.[5] During his political career he served as Secretary to the Treasury, Chief Secretary for Ireland, British Ambassador to France, Cofferer of the Household, Ambassador to the United Provinces and Teller of the Exchequer.[5]
Christopher Walpole, died as an infant
Galfridus Walpole (1683\endash 1726)
Mordaunt Walpole (1688\endash 1689)[14]
A stillborn boy (1690)
Charles Walpole (1691\endash ?)
William Walpole (1693\endash ?)
Daughters

Susan Walpole, wife of Anthony Hamond (d. 1743). Detail from portrait attributed to Thomas Bardwell
Susan Walpole (1672\endash ?), wife of Anthony Hamond (d. 1743);
Mary Walpole (1673\endash 1701), who married Sir Charles Turner, 1st Baronet of Warham, Norfolk, a lawyer and Whig politician, and was the great-grandmother of the great Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758\endash 1805);
Elizabeth Walpole, died in infancy;
Elizabeth Walpole (1682\endash 1736)
Anne Walpole (1685\endash ?)
Dorothy Walpole (1686 \endash 29 March 1728), who in about 1713[15] married Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (1674\endash 1738), who in his childhood had been her father's ward,[6] son and heir of Horatio Townshend, 1st Viscount Townshend (1630\endash 1687), a grandson of Horatio de Vere, 1st Baron Vere of Tilbury (1565\endash 1635), an English military leader (one of the earliest English holders of that first name);
Susan Walpole (1687\endash ?)
A stillborn girl[16]
Overdue library book
In 1668 Walpole borrowed a German biography book about the Archbishop of Bremen from the library of Sidney Sussex College.[17] It was finally found in 1956 when his descendant the 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley together with Professor John H. Plumb discovered the book in the library at Houghton. The book was quickly returned, 288 years after it was checked out.[17]
Wikipedia

Robert married Mary BURWELL [35876] [MRIN: 13011], daughter of Sir Geoffrey BURWELL [22482] and Elizabeth DEREHAUGH [35875]. (Mary BURWELL [35876] was born on 23 Oct 1684 in Rougham SFK and died on 14 Mar 1710/11 in Houghton NFK.)