Sir Robert Peel, Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was born on this date in 1788. 10 facts about him:
Robert Peel was born in Bury, Lancashire. His father was a wealthy cotton mill owner. Peel was educated at Harrow and Oxford. He graduated with a double first in 1808.
His ambitious father was keen for him to do well in the political arena and bought him his Commons seat. It’s said that he told him, “Bob, you dog, if you do not become Prime Minister someday I’ll disinherit you”.
He served as MP for several constituencies including including that of Oxford University; but his first election win was for Cashel, Tipperary, just a year after he graduated, in 1809. His maiden speech in the Commons went down extremely well, famously described by the Speaker of the House of Commons as “the best first speech since that of William Pitt”.
He married Julia Floyd in 1820. She was the daughter of General Sir John Floyd, 1st Baronet, and his first wife Rebecca Darke. They had seven children.
He became Home Secretary in 1822 and it was in this post that he made extensive reforms to the prison and legal system, including creating the Metropolitan Police. This is why police officers are sometimes known as “bobbies” or “peelers.”
He was invited to become prime minister by King William IV after Earl Grey resigned in 1834. Peel turned the job down at first, but changed his mind and accepted when the king asked him again in 1835. Confident the voters were behind him, he called an election, but didn’t win the large majority he’d hoped for.
He was known to change his mind on a few things during his career. He opposed Catholic emancipation for 20 years, but was then persuaded it might not be such a bad idea if civil unrest was the alternative; so he pushed the Catholic Emancipation Bill through Parliament. During Earl Grey’s administration, he argued against parliamentary reform to no avail: the Reform Act was passed in 1832. When running for election in Tamworth, however, he came out in support of it.
As PM, he brought in the Mines Act of 1842, which forbade the employment of women and children in mines; the Factory Act 1844, which improved conditions for women and children working in factories. He also repealed the Corn Laws in 1846, which banned the import of cheap foreign grain. This was unpopular with rich landowners, of course, but there were humanitarian reasons to piss them off. The potato famine was raging in Ireland at the time, and there was not enough grain to send to Ireland to feed people. The public supported the move but the wealthy people didn’t (surprise surprise, things haven’t changed much) and the debate lasted 5 months. Although Peel won the vote on the Corn Laws, there were other votes the same day which he lost, and so he decided to resign for good.
Peel was the first British prime minister to be photographed while in office. He is featured on the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
Peel was thrown from his horse while riding on Constitution Hill in London on 29 June 1850. The horse stumbled on top of him, and he died three days later at the age of 62 due to complications from a broken collarbone.
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