Warrant signed. Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (1676–1745), to George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax (1685–1739), Whitehall, 18 June 1729.
Supporting the royal material are letters by six British Prime Ministers from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The first, Sir Robert Walpole, is regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, although the position had no recognition in law or official use at the time. Walpole entered Parliament in 1701. Ten years later he was elected Leader of the House of Commons. He served effectively as Prime Minister, and officially as First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer (a position he also held from 1715 to 1717) from 1721 until his resignation from office in 1742. As part of his resignation agreement, Walpole was created Earl of Orford and elevated to the House of Lords.
This warrant flows with the official language of Walpole’s day:
After Our hearty Commendations. By Virtue of his [Majesty’s] General Letters of Privy Seal bearing date the 26th day of June 1727 and in pursuance of a Warrant under her Majesty’s Sign Manual dated the 17th instant These are to pray and require your Lordship to draw an order for paying unto Arthur Onslow Esq. Speaker of the House of Commons, or to his [assistant], the Sum of Five hundred pounds without Account for 100 dais on the usuall allowance of five pounds a day from the 25th day of February 1728 to the 5th day of June instant incl; And let the said Order be Satisfyed out of any Money in the Receipt of the Exchequer applicable to the Uses of his Majesty’s Civil Government. For which this shall be your [Lordship’s] Warrant, Whitehall [Treasury Chambers] 18th June 1729
The warrant is co-signed by Sir George Oxenden (1695–1775) and William Clayton (1671–1752).
Warrant signed. Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (1676–1745), to George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax (1685–1739), Whitehall, 18 June 1729.
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