Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford,, known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons, is generally regarded as the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Portrait by Jean-Baptiste van Loo, c. 1740
Speaker Arthur Onslow calling upon Sir Robert Walpole to Speak in the House of Commons by William Hogarth
Walpole with his secretary, Henry Bilson-Legge, by Stephen Slaughter
1740 political cartoon depicting Walpole as the Colossus of Rhodes, alluding to his reluctance to engage Spain and France militarily
The Kingdom of Great Britain was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the kingdoms of England and Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The unitary state was governed by a single parliament at the Palace of Westminster, but distinct legal systems—English law and Scots law—remained in use.
Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702 to 1714
Walpole, by Arthur Pond
Walpole's Houghton Hall
1740 political cartoon depicting a towering Walpole as the Colossus of Rhodes