Robert Horatio Walpole, 10th Baron Walpole of Walpole, 8th Baron Walpole of Wolterton, JP (8 December 1938 – 8 May 2021), was a British politician who, as an excepted hereditary peer, was a member of the House of Lords until his retirement in 2017.
The Lord Walpole | |
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![]() Lord Walpole in 2015 | |
Member of the House of Lords | |
as a hereditary peer 12 October 1989 – 11 November 1999 | |
Preceded by | The 9th Baron Walpole |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
as an elected hereditary peer 11 November 1999 – 13 June 2017 [1] | |
Election | 1999 |
Preceded by | Seat established |
Succeeded by | The 12th Baron Vaux of Harrowden |
Personal details | |
Born | Robert Horatio Walpole 8 December 1938 |
Died | 8 May 2021 | (aged 82)
Political party | Crossbench |
Ancestors
editWalpole was descended from Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole (of Wolterton), a younger brother of Sir Robert Walpole, the first British Prime Minister. He was the 10th and 8th Baron Walpole (of two different creations). His ancestors include Sir Robert Walpole's father Colonel Robert Walpole (1650–1700).
Education and local government career
editHe was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he received a BA and an MA. He served on Norfolk County Council for eleven years from 1970 to 1981.[2]
House of Lords career
editHe entered the House on the death of his father in 1989. He was a crossbencher and was internally elected to continue serving after the House of Lords Act 1999 prevented most hereditary peers from sitting.[2] He retired from Parliament on 13 June 2017.[3]
Family
editHis heir was Jonathan Robert Hugh Walpole (born 16 November 1967), a writer. Walpole and his first wife Judith (née Schofield, later Chaplin) had four other children, including diplomat Alice Walpole. The couple divorced in 1979. In 1980 Walpole married Laurel Celia Ball with whom he had three further children.
Wealth and estates
editHis father's net estate at his death in February 1989 was sworn as £2,065,295 (equivalent to £6,490,000 in 2023).[4] In April 2016 he sold Wolterton Hall, the house commissioned by his ancestor the 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton in 1742, where Walpole and his father had lived. He lived nearby at Mannington Hall, a house owned by his family since the 18th century.
Death
editWalpole died on 8 May 2021, aged 82.[5] The title was inherited by his eldest son, Jonathan Robert Hugh Walpole, who became the 11th Baron Walpole.
References
edit- "Walpole". Who's Who 2018. 1 December 2017. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.38752.
- ^ Retired under Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.
- ^ a b "Lord Walpole (incorrectly shows as Robin Walpole)". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ^ "Lord Walpole". UK Parliament.
- ^ Probate Calendars of England and Wales: 1989 at page 8454
- ^ Bishop, Donna-Louise (12 May 2021). "Tributes paid to Lord Robert Walpole who has died aged 82". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 28 May 2023.