Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

by Henry William Pickersgill; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on February 5, 1788, in Bury, Lancashire, England, Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, once during the reign of King William IV (1834–35) and once during the reign of Queen Victoria (1841–46). He was the eldest son and the third of the eleven children of Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet, one of the early textile manufacturers of the Industrial Revolution and a Member of Parliament, and his first wife Ellen Yates.  Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet had high hopes for his children.  Peel accepted that he would not mingle with high society but intended to prepare his children to be able to do so.

Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet had ten siblings:

  • Mary Peel (1784 – 1848), married George Robert Dawson, had five sons
  • Elizabeth Peel (1786 – 1828), married Sir William Cockburn of Langton, 11th Baronet, had three sons
  • William Yates Peel, Member of Parliament and politician (1789 – 1858), Lady Jane Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Stephen Moore, 2nd Earl Mount Cashell, had 16 children
  • Edmund Peel, Member of Parliament and politician (1791 – 1850), married Emily Swinfen, had three sons
  • Eleanor Peel (1794 – ?)
  • Anne Peel (1796 – ?), married Charles Wickstead Ethelston
  • Very Rev. John Peel  (1798 – 1875), married Augusta Swinfen
  • General Jonathan Peel, soldier, Member of Parliament and politician (1799 – 1879), married Lady Alice Kennedy, daughter of Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa, had eight children
  • Laurence Peel, Member of Parliament and politician (1801 – 1888), married Lady Jane Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond
  • Harriet Eleonora Peel (1803 – 1869), married Robert Henry Henley, 2nd Baron Henley of Chardstock, had two sons

Peel was educated at Bury Grammar School, Hipperholme Grammar School, and Harrow School.  He attended Christ Church, Oxford where he studied classics and mathematics. After Oxford, Peek studied law at Lincoln’s Inn.

The Duke of Wellington, Prime Minister 1828–1830, with Peel; Credit – Wikipedia

Peel was first elected to Parliament in 1809 at the age of 21. His mentor in Parliament was Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future 1st Duke of Wellington and victor at the Battle of Waterloo where Napoleon was defeated. Peel named one of his sons after the Duke of Wellington as did Queen Victoria. Quickly rising in power, Peel served as Chief Secretary for Ireland (1812 – 1818), Home Secretary (1822 – 1827 and 1828 – 1830), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834 – 1835), Leader of the Opposition when Lord Melbourne was Prime Minister (1835 – 1841) and Prime Minister (1834 – 1835 and 1841 – 1846).

Julia, Lady Peel by Thomas Lawrence, 1807; Credit – Wikipedia

Peel married Julia Floyd, daughter of General Sir John Floyd, 1st Baronet on June 8, 1820. The couple had seven children:

In 1829, when he was Home Secretary, Peel established the Metropolitan Police Force in London based at Scotland Yard. The constables were nicknamed “bobbies” or “peelers” after Robert Peel. Peel is known as the father of modern policing and devised the Peelian Principles which defined the ethical requirements police officers must follow. The Peelian Principles have been used not only in the United Kingdom but in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and other countries.

In 1839, Lord Melbourne (Whig Party) announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister after a government bill passed by a very narrow margin of only five votes in the House of Commons. This led to the Bedchamber Crisis. The Conservative Peel, as Leader of the Opposition, was the prospective Prime Minister. He requested that Queen Victoria dismiss some of the wives and daughters of Whig Members of Parliament who made up her personal household, arguing that the monarch should avoid any hint of political favoritism to a party out of power. Queen Victoria refused to do so, saying her ladies were her friends. Peel refused to form a new government and Lord Melbourne was persuaded to stay on as Prime Minister. Eventually, Lord Melbourne’s support in Parliament declined and by 1840 it grew difficult to hold the Cabinet together. He resigned in August 1841 after a series of parliamentary defeats and Peel became Prime Minister for the second time.

Edward Drummond  (1792 – 1843) a British civil servant, was personal secretary to several British Prime Ministers including Sir Robert Peel. On January 20, 1843, Drummond was walking along Whitehall on his way back to Downing Street after visiting his brother at the Drummonds Bank in Charing Cross when Daniel McNaughton, a Scottish woodturner, approached him from behind and shot him at point-blank range in the back. McNaughton was under the impression that he had shot Prime Minister Robert Peel. Drummond, age 51, died five days later.

The House of Commons by Sir George Hayter oil on canvas, 1833-1843 NPG 54 © National Portrait Gallery, London

The most outstanding achievement of Peel’s second term as Prime Minister would eventually cause his downfall. The Great Irish Potato Famine had caused a disastrous fall in food supplies and so Peel decided to join with Whigs and Radicals to repeal the Corn Laws which imposed tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and grain. Peel’s Conservative Party failed to support the bill but it passed with Whig and Radical support and the Duke of Wellington persuaded the House of Lords to pass it. Following the repeal of the Corn Law, Peel resigned as Prime Minister on June 29, 1846.

Like Lord Melbourne, Peel also had been a mentor to Queen Victoria but as his term progressed, Victoria with the help of her husband Prince Albert became more self-sufficient.  Queen Victoria was still recovering from the difficult birth of her fifth child Princess Helena when she learned that Peel had resigned.  Her response was much calmer than her response when Lord Melbourne had resigned five years earlier.   Victoria wrote in her journal: “Really when one is so happy & blessed in one’s home life, as I am, Politics (provided that my country is safe) must take only a second place.”

After his resignation as Prime Minister, Peel remained an influential Member of Parliament and was the leader of the Peelites, a breakaway faction of the Conservative Party that eventually joined with the Whigs and Radicals to form the Liberal Party.

On June 29, 1850, Peel went out for his usual evening ride on a new horse that was not yet fully accustomed to its rider. He stopped at Buckingham Palace to write his name in the visitors’ book and then continued on Constitution Hill. During his ride, Peel met two girls he knew with a groom on a restless horse. Peel’s horse acted up, threw him off, and then fell on him. A woman offered to bring Peel home in her carriage. The doctors found that Peel had broken his left collarbone and probably several ribs. They also suspected severe internal bleeding. Peel’s condition worsened and he died at his London home Whitehall Gardens on July 2, 1850, at the age of 62. Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was buried at St. Peter Church in Drayton Bassett, Staffordshire, England near his now-demolished country home Drayton Manor.

The plaque inside St. Peter’s Church where Sir Robert Peel is buried; Credit – www.findagrave.com/memorial/10192/robert-peel#view-photo=157861196

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Works Cited

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  • Historytoday.com. (2018). Death of Sir Robert Peel | History Today. [online] Available at: https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-sir-robert-peel [Accessed 20 Jul. 2018].
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