WALPOLE, Horatio (1678-1757), of Wolterton, Norf.

By 1754 Horatio Walpole’s diplomatic career was closed and his position as a major figure in the Commons was gone: he was one of ‘the dead above ground’, yet generally bustling for the ministry in order to get a peerage. In September 1755 at the time of the subsidy treaties he was reported to be ‘much discontented’Yorke, Hardwicke, ii. 241. at the delay in having it granted. Newcastle, anxious to rally all his supporters, pressed Walpole’s application, and on 28 Oct. 1755 wrote to Lord Hartington:Add. 32860, f. 205. ‘I hope, at last, to be well with old Horace, having a promise for him of his peerage, at the end of the session, if he is a good boy in the meantime.’

It was granted in June 1756, and Walpole died 5 Feb. 1757.