Talk:Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on February 16, 2009 and February 16, 2010.

University of Oxford Low‑importance

	University of Oxford portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject University of Oxford, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the University of Oxford on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.University of OxfordWikipedia:WikiProject University of OxfordTemplate:WikiProject University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Politics of the United Kingdom Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics of the United Kingdom, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Politics of the United Kingdom on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Politics of the United KingdomWikipedia:WikiProject Politics of the United KingdomTemplate:WikiProject Politics of the United KingdomPolitics of the United Kingdom articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Warwickshire Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Warwickshire, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Warwickshire. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. Please also feel free to join in the discussions on the project's talk page.WarwickshireWikipedia:WikiProject WarwickshireTemplate:WikiProject WarwickshireWikiProject Warwickshire articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Biography: Military / Peerage and Baronetage / Politics and Government

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the military biography work group (assessed as Low-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject Peerage and Baronetage (assessed as Low-importance).
	This article is supported by the politics and government work group (assessed as Low-importance).

Military history: Biography / British / European / Early Modern

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	Military biography task force
	British military history task force
	European military history task force
	Early Modern warfare task force (c. 1500 – c. 1800)

Untitled[edit]

Am I missing something? If he died unmarried and without issue, how can he have descendants in the U.S.? Davidz07 (talk) 15:27, 3 February 2008 (UTC)DavidZ07[reply]

So many tables, so little information.... :-P ugen64 01:21, Aug 24, 2004 (UTC)

There's some more (thanks especially to the DNB). Now does anyone have a picture of him that we can use? Timrollpickering 00:18, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Prime Minister??[edit]

The term prime minister has only been around since the early 1900's, therefore he can not have been a PM. So can we remove it?? Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was first PM, the others were First Lord of the Treasury. 86.63.26.124 (talk) 11:09, 16 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It was the office that was created at the beginning of the 20th century, but the general consensus of historians is that the first PM was Sir Robert Walpole (1721-42) because he was the first to exercise the powers of the modern PM altough there are alternative candidates suich as James Stanhope for the first PM. Lord Cornwallis (talk) 12:43, 16 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Which historians? My history books (bear in mind I am English) have them as First Lord not PM. It has also been raised in quiz shows with contestants giving the wrong answer by answering Walpole. 86.63.26.124 (talk) 16:31, 16 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The first example I came across on google books was this [1] which includes Wilmington among its list of Prime Ministers. Another book I came across was this [2] about a pre-1900 figure which describes him as Prime Minister in the title.

There is a difference between the formal creation of the office of Prime Minister and the existing de facto post of Prime/First/Chief Minister. Walpole is considered the first because of the powers he wielded. There is a case that Walpole is not the first as predescessors had wielded similar powers. There were also later figures William Pitt wasn't First Lord of the Treasury between 1766 and 1768, yet is frequently referred to as First Minister.

I would admit to not being an expert on this sujhect. Perhaps you might be better off asking on List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom or Prime Minister of the United Kingdom? Lord Cornwallis (talk) 00:44, 17 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In Walpole's time, the term 'Prime Minister' was used unofficially as a half-sneering code for royal favourite, in the sense of 'Teacher's Pet'. But Walpole is recognised as the first person to fill the role we now call prime Minister. 86.143.232.183 (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link on Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080625005325/http://www.whadelaware.org:80/compton.html to http://www.whadelaware.org/compton.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers. —^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 20:58, 18 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Writing biography[edit]

Is there any extra information to write a biography accurately. I’m desperate to write a full biography for him Primeminguy (talk) 13:11, 20 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I will respond at User_talk:Primeminguy. Peaceray (talk) 14:26, 20 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Events[edit]

Could someone tell me any events in his life I’m trying to fill his biography Primeminguy (talk) 08:46, 21 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Speaker of the House of Commons[edit]

It says in Compton's infobox that he was speaker of the House 1715-1727. This is contradicted in his successor, Onslow's infobox, saying his speakership began on 23 January 1728. Was there a gap in between? I notice that in the cited source it says "Speaker of House of Commons 1715-27"; however, 3 paragraphs down, it says "Before the new Parliament met in January 1728 Walpole, feeling that Compton had conceived too strong hopes of being [his] superior ever to serve in the House of Commons quietly under him, and that it might be dangerous ... to suffer him in the chair of a new Parliament ... advised the making him a peer. Accordingly he was created Baron of Wilmington[...]", which is vague because "before the new parliament met in January 1728" could mean anything from c. late 1727 - 23(ish) January 1728. Additionally, GOV.UK's "history of government" says "Compton was ennobled (as Baron, and later Earl of, Wilmington) in 1728, perhaps because Walpole was keen to remove him as a potential rival in the Commons." What's going on here? It looks to me that January 1728 is right. Tim O'Doherty (talk) 20:09, 18 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Were speakers technically considered to be "in office" between Parliaments in the 18th century? Furius (talk) 21:10, 18 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I'm assuming yes, as even in the modern day, John Bercow's term isn't split up between Parliaments in his infobox. But you raise a good point. I'm not sure. Tim O'Doherty (talk) 21:15, 18 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

DoB[edit]

@142.67.114.138 - do you have a source for your recent edits? Tim O'Doherty (talk) 20:46, 16 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]