First among equals
OVER the late summer of 1720, a financial scheme to reduce government debt collapsed in spectacular fashion. The South Sea Bubble—so called after the company involved—discredited the leading figures of the government and court. It also created the opportunity for an ambitious politician with a reputation for economic expertise to establish himself in power: Sir Robert Walpole. Until his fall more than 20 years later, he dominated British politics and became known as ‘prime minister’.
‘Walpole’s six-month imprisonment in the Tower turned him into a Whig celebrity’
Robert was born at the Walpole family seat of Houghton Hall, Norfolk, on August 26, 1676, the fifth of 15 children. His namesake father was a scholar, bibliophile and agricultural improver. In politics, Sir Robert Snr was a Whig, the faction advocating constitutional monarchy. In
