Robert Peel

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Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–35, 1841–46) and twice as Home Secretary (1822–28, 1828–30).

Because of the establishment of the Metropolitan Police Service, he is regarded as the father of modern British policing.

Peel was one of the foundings of the modern Conservative Party. Peel, the son of a wealthy textile manufacturer and politician, was the first prime minister from an industrial business background.

Christ Church, Oxford, Oxford, gave him a double first in classics and mathematics.

He joined the House of Commons in 1809 and became a rising figure in the Tory Party.

Peel served in the Cabinet from 1822 to 1827, where he reformed and liberalized the criminal code and established the modern police force, resulting in the development of a new breed of cops named in honor of him as "bobbies" and "peelers."

Early life

Peel was born in Bury, Lancashire, to industrialist and parliamentarian Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet, and his wife Ellen Yates. His father was one of the first textile manufacturers of the Industrial Revolution. The family relocated from Lancashire to Drayton Manor, Staffordshire; the manor house has since been demolished, but Dr. Manor Theme Park has occupied the property.

Peel received his early education from a clergyman tutor in Bury and a clergyman's local school in Tamworth. He may have attended Bury Grammar School or Hipperholme Grammar School, but evidence for either is more ecdical than textual. In February 1800, he began attending Harrow School. He was a contemporary of Lord Byron, who told Peel that "we were on good terms" and that "I was always in scrapes," but he never." Peel and Byron performed Aeneid on Harrow's Speech Day in 1804, with Peel and Byron playing Turnus and Byron playing Latinus.

Peel matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1805. On Peel's recommendation, he tutored Charles Lloyd, later Regius Professor of Divinity, who was named Bishop of Oxford. Peel was the first Oxford scholar to take a double first in Classics and Mathematics in 1808.

Peel, a law student at Lincoln's Inn in 1809, was a student in 1809. He served as a captain in the Manchester Regiment of Militia in 1808 and later as lieutenant in the Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry in 1820.

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Early political career

Peel became an MP for the Irish rotten borough of Cashel, Tipperary, in 1809. He was elected unopposed by a scant 24 electors on the rolls. Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, with whom Peel's political career will be intertwined for the next 25 years, was his sponsor for the election (except his father). When Prime Minister Spencer Perceval selected Peel to second the king's response to the king's address, he made his maiden address at the start of the 1810 session. His address was a revelation, with Charles Abbott referring to it as "the best first speech since William Pitt's."

Peel changed constituency twice, first becoming one of the two Members for Chippenham in 1812 and then one of the Oxford University in 1817.

Peel was appointed under the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in 1810; his Secretary of State was Lord Liverpool. Peel was the Chief Secretary for Ireland when Lord Liverpool established a government in 1812, but it was not until 1812 that Peel was named Chief Secretary for Ireland. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was allowed to appoint additional magistrates in a county of turmoil, but not "peelers" were allowed to name paid special constables. The Royal Irish Constabulary was based on Peel's proposal.

Peel was vehemently opposed to Catholic emancipation, insisting that Catholics could not be admitted to Parliament if they refused to swear the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown. Peel gave the closing address in opposition to Henry Grattan's Catholic emancipation bill in May 1817; the bill was defeated by 245 votes to 221.

Peel resigned as Chief Secretary and left Ireland in August 1818.

After the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, the House of Commons established a Select Committee, the Bullion Committee, charged with maintaining British finances, and Peel was elected as its chairman in 1819. Peel's Bill intended to restore British currency to the gold standard by 1797, reversing the Bank Restriction Act 1797, which was not completed until 1821.

Peel was first elected as Home Secretary in 1822, and he was one of the Tory party's rising stars. He introduced a number of crucial changes to British criminal law as Home Secretary. He reduced the number of offences punishable by death and simplified the legislation by eliminating a large number of criminal statutes and consolidating their provisions into what are commonly known as Peel's Acts. In the Gaols Act 1823, he modified the gaol system, including compensation for gaolers and education for prisoners.

Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister of 1827, was incapacitated, and George Canning was brought to his assistance. Peel resigned as home secretary after being sacked. Canning favoured Catholic emancipation, while Peel was one of the country's most outspoken opponents (hearning the colour of the anti-Catholic Orange Order). Canning himself died less than four months after his brief reign as Prime Minister George Goderich, Peel returned to the post of Home Secretary under the Duke of Wellington's premiership. He was widely believed to be the Tory Party's top-two at this point, after Wellington himself.

The Test and Corporation Acts required many officials to be communicants in the Anglican Church, and of nonconformists and Catholics, who were fined both nonconformists and Catholics. They were no longer strictly enforced, but humiliation was no longer necessary. Peel opposed the repeal at first, but after consultation with Anglican Church leaders, the government moved forward and led the repeal. In May 1828, the Sacramental Test Act 1828 was first enacted into law. He made it a point to speak with church leaders from the major denominations in future religious concerns.

Daniel O'Connell, the Catholic Irish nationalist leader, was re-elected by-election in 1828 Clare. The Chief Secretary for Ireland was alarmed by the degree of civil strife and the possibility of a rebellion if O'Connell were barred from Parliament by the fall of 1828. Wellington and Peel now understood the need for Catholic emancipation, with Peel saying to Wellington that "though emancipation was a significant danger, civil strife was a greater danger." The Catholic Relief Bill was introduced by Peel.

Peel was reluctant to stand for re-election to his position in Oxford as he was representing Oxford University's graduates (many of whom were Anglican clergymen) and had previously stood on a protest against Catholic Emancipation. Peel lost his seat in a by-election in February 1829 but soon discovered another, in Westbury, a decaying borough, retaining his Cabinet post. In the general election of 1830, he ran for Tamworth, representing Tamworth until his death.

Peel guided the Catholic Relief Bill through the House of Commons, Wellington, through the House of Lords. The bill will only pass with Whig support, with many Ultra-Tories outraged against emancipation. Wellington threatened to resign if King George IV did not give Royal permission; the King later relented, the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 became law in April 1829. Peel's U-turn cost him the trust of many Tories, according to Norman Gash, Peel had been "the idolized promoter of the Protestant movement," but the latter party now sees him as an outsider."

Peel formed the Metropolitan Police Force for London in 1829, based at Scotland Yard. The 1,000 constables were affectionately referred to as 'bobbies' or, perhaps more affectionately, 'peelers'. Although initially unpopular, they were extremely effective in reducing crime in London, and by 1857, all British cities had been obliged to establish their own police forces. Peel is thought to have contributed to the Metropolitan Police's first series of "Instructions to Police Officers," stressing the importance of civilian life and policing by consent. However, what are now known as the Peelian Principles were not written by him, but rather by Charles Reith in his 1948 book A Short History of the British Police as a nine-point summary of the 1829 "Instructions" from which he was derived.

At the time, the middle and working classes in England were calling for change, but Catholic Emancipation was only one of the many of the ideas on the air. In 1830, the Tory ministry refused to compromise on other topics and was voted out of office in favour of the Whigs. The following few years were turbulent, but King William IV was eventually convinced enough to invite the Tories to form a ministry in succession to Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne in 1834. Peel was elected Prime Minister by Peel but was in Italy at the time, so Wellington acted as a caretaker for three weeks until Peel's return.

Later career and death

Peel did, however, retain a hard core of supporters, known as Peelites, and the Whig/Radical coalition pressed Peel to court at one point in 1849. However, he maintained his conservative values and refused to attend the convention. Nonetheless, he was instrumental on many important topics, including the promotion of British free trade in the aftermath of the Navigation Acts' repeal. Peel, a member of the House of Commons Library, was responsible for the amendment that established the committee's scope and collection policies for the remainder of the century.

On June 29, 1850, Peel was kicked from his horse while riding on Constitution Hill in London. The horse stumbled on top of him and died three days later on July 2nd, at the age of 62, due to a fractured collarbone that rupturing his submarined vessels.

His Peelite followers, backed by Lord Aberdeen and William Gladstone, went on to assemble with the Whigs as the Liberal Party.

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