although the title
didn´t become official until 1905. The title that belonged to the leader
of the government was (and still is!) "First Lord of the Treasury".
1721-56: Robert Walpole, the Earl of Wilmington, Henry Pelham, the Earl of Bath, Lord Carteret, the Duke of Newcastle
As already mentioned on the "Intro"-page, Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745,
PM 1721-42) was the first one who was called "Prime Minister",
although the title
didn´t become official until 1905. The title that belonged to the leader
of the government was (and still is!) "First Lord of the Treasury".
During his last years, it had become more and more difficult for Walpole
to lead against the opposition (even within his own Whig-party), and follow
his policy as a careful ruler who didn´t want to lead unnecessary wars.
You can see another signature here from 1741, during his last year in office. From February 1742 on he signed "Orford" (after he was created the "1st Earl of Orford").
This signature, as most of the others in this "chapter" and in the ones that follow as well, is a cut from a document. Another possibility to get a relatively inexpensive signature is to acquire a "free frank", an address-envelope signed and stamped; postage stamps weren´t used until the mid-1800´s.
The situation after Walpole´s surprising defeat
in February 1742 was difficult. An obvious choice then was William Pulteney
(the Earl of Bath later, see below), but he repeatedly declared that he did
not seek office. The Earl of Wilmington (1674-1743, born Spencer Compton,
created Earl in 1730), who had served under Sidney Godolphin already, was
asked to become First Lord of the Treasury on the understanding that
Pulteney´s "second-in-command", Samuel Sandys, would lighten
Wilmington´s burden as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Nevertheless, his
short time in office until his death on 2 July 1743 is regarded as PM in
name only.
After
Wilmington, two politicians continued dominating Britain who were already
secretaries during Walpole´s reign: Henry Pelham (1695-1754, PM 1743-54)
and his brother, Thomas Pelham-Holles (1693-1768, PM 1754-56, 57-62 with
Pitt, the Elder), created the 1st Duke of Newcastle in 1715. The Duke of
Newcastle was secretary of state from 1724-54 (!) before he became PM after
the death of his brother; he had the reputation to bribe important people
in key-positions so that Walpole could remain in office so long. He didn´t
change this policy to be able to remain in a leading position; or, if challenged
by others (William Pitt the Elder was his most critical counterpart for decades),
he
k
new how to play
off one against the other to remain in power.
Above, you can see the two brothers and their signatures; on the left the Duke of Newcastle, on the right Henry Pelham.
In February 1746, King George II. wasn´t satisfied with the work of
his PM Henry Pelham, so he invited others to form a government. William Pulteney
(1684-1764, the Earl of Bath since 1742) from 10th-12th
F
eb. and Lord John Carteret
(1690-1763) from 12th-16th Feb. weren´t successful
(or other leading
politicians didn´t cooperate with them), so Pelham returned.
William Pulteney had been a long-time friend and ally of Robert Walpole until
in 1721 Walpole returned to power and Pulteney was offered no significant
office but only a peerage instead. Pulteney began to work against Walpole
and finally, in 1742, succeeded. King George II offered Pulteney to succeed
Walpole, but he wasn't interested and proposed Wilmington instead. He
accepted a peerage this time, became the 1st Earl
of Bath and thought he could still manipulate from the House of Lords,
but had to realize that he didn't have much influence left. This became obvious
even more in February 1746, when he was offered to form a government but
couldn't find any significant politician to follow him. His two days in office
mark the shortest time in office - too short in fact to be generally accepted
as Prime Minister.
Here you can see scans of Bath´s and Carteret´s signatures. The "Bath" comes from a personal letter dated 22 July 1746, the very same year he held the seals of the office "First Lord of the Treasury" for two days.
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