View source for Spencer Walpole

{{short description|English historian and civil servant (1839–1907)}}
{{for|the British politician and Home Secretary|Spencer Horatio Walpole}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix   = [[Sir]]
|name               = Spencer Walpole
|honorific-suffix   = [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath|KCB]] [[Fellow of the British Academy|FBA]]
|image              = Portrait of Sir Spencer Walpole.jpg
|imagesize          = 
|smallimage         = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
|alt                = 
|caption            =
|order              = 10th
|office             = Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man
|term_start         = 1882
|term_end           = 1893
|monarch            = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
|predecessor        = [[Henry Loch, 1st Baron Loch|The Lord Loch]]
|successor          = [[Joseph West Ridgeway|Sir West Ridgeway]]
|birth_date         = {{birth date|1839|2|6|df=y}}
|birth_place        = 
|death_date         = {{death date and age|1907|7|7|1839|2||df=y}}
|death_place        = 
|restingplace       = 
|restingplacecoordinates = 
|birthname          = Spencer Walpole 
|nationality        = British
|spouse             = Marion Jane Murray 
|relations          = 
|children           = One son and one daughter
|alma_mater         =  
|occupation         = 
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}}
'''Sir Spencer Walpole''' [[Order of the Bath|KCB]], [[Fellow of the British Academy|FBA]] (6 February 1839 &ndash; 7 July 1907) was an [[England|English]] [[historian]] and civil servant.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle =Walpole, Sir Spencer|volume=28 |page=290 |inline=y}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Walpole, Sir Spencer|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|pages=1827–1828|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1827}}</ref>

==Background==
He came of the younger branch of the ''[[de facto]]'' first prime minister, [[Robert Walpole]] who revived the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig Party]], being a patrilineal descendant of one of his brothers, the [[Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole|1st Baron Walpole]] of Wolterton.  His father [[Spencer Horatio Walpole]] (1807–1898) was three times [[Home Secretary]] under the [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|14th Earl of Derby]].  Through his mother he was a grandson of [[Spencer Perceval]], the [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] prime minister.<ref name="EB1911" /> The only mainstream political parties in his lifetime which were at that time taking shape as the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] and [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] parties were therefore closely connected to him at birth, and each party icon formed one half of his name.

==Career==
Spencer Walpole was educated at [[Eton College|Eton]], and from 1858 to 1867 was a clerk in the [[War Office]], then becoming an inspector of fisheries.<ref name="EB1911" /> In 1867 he married Marion Jane Murray; they had one son and one daughter.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|id= 36712|first=H. C. G.|last= Matthew|title=‘Walpole, Sir Spencer (1839–1907)}}</ref> In 1882 he was made [[Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man|lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Man]], and from 1893 to 1899 he was secretary to the [[Post Office]]. In 1898 he was [[knight]]ed.<ref name="EB1911" />

A most efficient public servant and in private life well-conversed, Walpole became a successfully published historian. His family connections gave him a natural affinity for the study of public affairs, and their mingling of [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] and Tory policies of past and present contributed to a deliberately reasoned, judicious and balanced view of English political figures – he inclined, however, to the Whig or moderate [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] side, including in his writing.  His principal work, the ''History of England from 1815'' (1878–1886), in six volumes, was carried down to 1858, and was continued in his ''History of Twenty-Five Years'' (4 vol. 1904).<ref name="EB1911" />

Among his other publications come his lives of Spencer Perceval (1894) and [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Lord John Russell]] (1889), and a volume of valuable ''Studies in Biography'' (1906).<ref name="EB1911" />

His name is commemorated in [[Walpole Park]] in Ealing, formerly the grounds of his family home [[Pitzhanger Manor]], both of which were purchased by Ealing Council in 1899.

==Bibliography==
* Walpole, Spencer. ''A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815'' (6 vol. Longmans, Green, and Company, 1878–86.) [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%28spencer%20walpole%29%201815 online free];  [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4612536 WorldCat holdings in 434 libraries worldwide]
* Walpole, Spencer. ''History of Twenty-Five Years'' (4 vol. 1904–1908) covers 1856–1880; [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%28spencer%20walpole%29%20%20years online free]; [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/868991 WorldCat holdings in 228 libraries worldwide]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Wikisource author-inline}}

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{{succession box  | title  = [[Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man]]  | years  = 1882–1893  | before = [[Henry Loch, 1st Baron Loch|Lord Loch]]  | after  = [[Joseph West Ridgeway|Sir West Ridgeway]]}}
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{{Governor of the Isle of Man}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walpole, Spencer}}
[[Category:1839 births]]
[[Category:1907 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:19th-century English historians]]
[[Category:Secretaries of the General Post Office]]
[[Category:Civil servants in the War Office]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of the Isle of Man]]
[[Category:Walpole family|Spencer]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:20th-century English historians]]