Have I given any symptoms of an avaricious disposition? Have I obtained any grants from the crown since I have been placed at the head of the treasury? Has my conduct been different from that which others in the same station would have followed?

His father Robert Walpole was a Whig politician who represented the borough of Castle Rising in the House of Commons. His Name will not be recorded in History among the best men or the best Ministers but much much less ought it to be ranked among the worst. His mother was Mary Walpole (née Burwell) and he was the third of seventeen children eight of whom died during infancy.

Because of his homely ways and strong Norfolk roots he was often known to both friends and detractors as "the fat old Squire of Norfolk. Robert Walpole 1st Earl of Orford KG KB PC (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745) known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole was a British statesman who is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. ".