Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (12 June 1723 – 24 February 1809)L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 211 was a British Whig politician. Walpole was the eldest son and heir of

Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole "of Wolterton", (8 December 16785 February 1757), English diplomatist, was a younger son of Col. Robert Walpole (1650–1700) of Houghton Hall in Norfolk, and was a younger brother of Robert Walpole, 1st Ear ...

. He was admitted to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in January 1736, and matriculated at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

in 1741. In 1747, he was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

and held the seat until 1757 when he inherited his father's barony of Walpole (of Wolterton). In 1797, he inherited the barony of Walpole (of Walpole) from his cousin, the 4th and last Earl of Orford and was himself created

Earl of Orford Earl of Orford is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1697 when the naval commander Admiral of the Fleet Edward Russell was made Earl of Orford, in the County of Suffolk. He was cr ...

in 1806. Letters from

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...

from

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

to Walpole, dated 30 March 1806, show that the King gave his approval to the creation of Walpole's new title. On the same date, the King gave his written approval to Charles Medows Pierrepont, 1st Earl Manvers – like Walpole, a parliamentarian – who had asked the King for his permission to be created

Earl Manvers Earl Manvers was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for Charles Medows Pierrepont, 1st Viscount Newark. He had already been created Baron Pierrepont, of Holme Pierrepont in the County of Nottingham, and Viscoun ...

. On 12 May 1748, Walpole married Lady Rachel Cavendish (1727 – 8 May 1805), the third daughter of the 3rd Duke of Devonshire, and on his death in 1809, his titles passed to their eldest son,

Horatio Horatio is an English male given name, an Italianized form of the ancient Roman Latin '' nomen'' (name) '' Horatius'', from the Roman '' gens'' (clan) '' Horatia''. The modern Italian form is ''Orazio'', the modern Spanish form ''Horacio''. It app ...

. Lord Orford and his wife had at least two other children: Lady Mary Walpole (born c. 1757), who married Thomas Hussey, 19th

Baron Galtrim Baron Galtrim was an Irish feudal barony: in other words, the holder of the barony, which was hereditary in the Hussey family, was entitled to style himself Lord Galtrim, but was not entitled as of right to sit in the Irish House of Lords, althou ...

, on 4 August 1777 and had issue; and The Hon. George Walpole (20 June 1758 – May 1835). In 1758 he was the godfather of Admiral

Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...

, who was named after him.

References

Orford, Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Orford, Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761

Earls of Orford Whig (British political party) politicians {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub