Who was Robert Peel?
Statesman, Prime Minister and founder of British
Police Force.
Date and Place of Birth:
5th February 1788, Chamber Hall, Bury, Lancashire,
England.
Family Background:
Son of Sir Robert Peel from whom he inherited
a great fortune and Ellen Yates.
Education:
Harrow School. Christ Church College, Oxford.
Chronology/Biography of Robert Peel:
1804: Visits the
Houses of Parliament for the first time with his father. Saw both
WIlliam Pitt the Younger
and Charles James Fox in action.
1805: Peel goes up
to Oxford where he studies classics and philosophy.
1809: Becomes M.P.
for the Irish town of Cashel City in Tipperary after his father
asks Sir Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) to nominate him.
There are only twenty four voters in the borough and no electoral
contest is held.
1810: Prime Minster
Spencer Perceval appoints him Under Secretary for War and the Colonies
at the tender age of 22.
1812: Moves seats
to Chippenham which is another place with few voters.
1817: Becomes M.P.
for Oxford University after his outspoken attack on Catholic emancipation.
1819: Peel appointed
as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance.
1822: Appointed as
Home Secretary.
1823: Reduces the
number of crimes which carried the death sentence.
1827: George Canning
becomes Prime Minister and Peel resigns because of his pro stance
on catholic emancipation.
1828: With the Accession
of the Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister Peel again becomes Home
Secretary.
1829: returns to
parliament for another "Rotten Borough," this time Westbury
in Wiltshire. Passing of the Metropolitan Police Act.
1830: Death of Peel's
father and he becomes a baronet. At the General Election he is returned
for Tamworth in Staffordshire his father's old seat. Resigns later
in the year after the government is defeated on the issue of parliamentary
reform.
1832: The Whigs are
defeated on parliamentary reform but Peel refuses to serve in a
Tory party that is dedicated to reform.
1834: The Whig Government
of Earl Grey was dismissed by King William IV, who appointed Peel
as the new prime minister of a minority government and issues the
Tamworth Manifesto which says that the Tories will accept partial
reform.
1835: The Tories
are defeated by a coalition of Whigs and Radicals.
1837: Increases support
for the Tories at the General Election.
1841: The Whigs are
finally defeated at the General ELection and Peel becomes
Prime Minster of a majority Government.
1842: Peel's first
budget paves the way for free trade. Introduces the Mines Act which
forbade the employment of women and children underground.
1844: Peel threatens
to resign over the Factory Act which reduced working hours for women
and children. It is eventually passed.
1846: Repeal of the
Corn Laws. Many Tories fail to back Peel on this issue. This Act
was to help feed Ireland who were suffering from a potato famine.
He then resigns his post after being defeated on the Coercion Bill
for Ireland.
1847: The Whigs (Liberals)
win the General Election.
1848: Peel supports
the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the retention of Income tax and
higher spending on the armed forces.
1849: Refuses to
take a post in the Liberal Government. Supports to repeal of the
Navigation Act.
1850: His final act
is to urge non intervention in the policies of other governments.
Marriage:
1820: To Julia Floyd.
Date and Place of Death:
2nd July 1850, London after a riding accident.
Age at Death:
62.
Site of Grave:
St. Peter's Church, Drayton Bassett, Staffordshire,
England.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
Metropolitan Police Museum, Room 1334, New Scotland
Yard, SW1H 0BG.
