Baron Walpole

Baron Walpole, of Walpole in the County of Norfolk, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain.

Since 1797 holders also hold the title of Baron Walpole of Wolterton. Past holders have also held the titles Baron Walpole, of Houghton in the County of Norfolk, Viscount Walpole and Earl of Orford (second creation) (1745 to 1797), its third creation from 1806 to 1931. One holder held the title of Baron Clinton from 1781 to 1791.

The title of Baron Walpole, of Walpole in the County of Norfolk, was created in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1723 for Robert Walpole, in honour of and during the lifetime of his father, Sir Robert Walpole, the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain, with special remainder, failing male issue, to his brothers Edward Walpole and Horace Walpole, in default of this then to the heirs male of his father, and in default of this then to the heirs male of his grandfather Sir Thomas Walpole.

On Sir Robert Walpole's retirement from the House of Commons in 1742, he received the same title, but of Houghton in the County of Norfolk and those of Viscount Walpole and Earl of Orford, with standard remainder.

When Lord Orford, effectively Britain's first Prime Minister, died in 1745 he was succeeded by his eldest son, who in 1724 he had married the Devonshire heiress Margaret Rolle (1709-1781), who by survival, in 1751, became one of the co-heirs to the ancient Barony of Clinton, which thereby fell into abeyance. In 1760 the abeyance was terminated in her favour, and she became the 15th Baroness Clinton. The second Earl of Orford was succeeded by his eldest son, the third Earl. He notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk from 1757 to 1797. In 1781 he also succeeded his mother as 16th Baron Clinton. Lord Orford never married and on his death the Barony of Clinton became dormant (see the Baron Clinton for later history of this peerage), while the other titles were inherited by his uncle, the fourth Earl, at birth known as Horace Walpole, who was a politician and early expounder of the Neo-Gothic in architecture and the Gothic novel. He never married either and so on his death in 1797 three of his titles of different ranks became extinct while he was succeeded as Baron Walpole of Walpole according to the special remainder by his cousin Horatio Walpole, 2nd Baron Walpole (known as the younger).

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