User:Worm That Turned/Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet

Bits to Add

 * http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UqvPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA557 Obit
 * http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3310599;view=1up;seq=180 bio
 * Drayton Manor
 * Parsley Peel (his father)

In 1792, his father, Parsley Peel obtained the grant of a coat of arms, including a shuttle held by a lion, and a new family motto Industria.

Peel employed 15,000 workers.

Peel did not speak in Parliament often, though when he did, it was in support of Pitt. Was known as an expert in the cotton industry Wrote a pamphlet on National Debt.

The year before income tax was invented, he made a voluntary contribution of £10,000 to the treasury. He raised men for the militia when France threatened to invade. He was made a baronet in 1800.

Had eleven children over 18 years with Ellen, though she died in childbirth. He had high hopes for his children, especially his eldest son Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, who he would make repeat the substance of each Sunday's sermon after mass.. Accepted that he would not mingle with high society, but intended to prepare his son to be able to.

In 1809, Peel marked his son's 21st birthday by arranging with the Chief Secretary of Ireland for Robert to be elected as MP for the Irish rotten borough of Cashel, Tipperary.

Within months of his son entering parliament, Peel wrote to the prime minister, hinting that his son should be given a role in the government. To his delight, Robert was offered the opportunity to serve as under secretary to the Secratary of state for war and colonies in June 1810. Although Robert was hesitant, his father pressed him to accept.

In April 1830, Sir Robert was growing frail, though he still played whist until he was too weak to deal. He was too proud to allow his nephew to deal for him, so stopped playing. Peel died in his armchair, peacefully and without anyone noticing until hours later.

When writing the biography of his son, Douglas Hurd stated that he had "a good life, well sustained by family pleasures, worldly success, orthodox Christian faith and a strong practical mind" His funeral was attended by the entire "corporation of Tamworth" and sixty tenants on horseback. In his will, an equal amount to each of his sons, except Robert, to whom he left all his lands and four times the assets left to the other sons.

Peel had given Robert £230,000 during his life time, plus £100,000 on the event of his marriage and willed him a further £154,000.

Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet (25 April 1750 – 3 May 1830), was a British politician and industrialist and one of early textile manufacturers of the Industrial Revolution. He was the father of Sir Robert Peel, twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Early life
Robert Peel was born in 1750, to Robert "Parsley" Peel and

Peel's father Robert Peel and grandfather William Peel were yeoman farmers who were also engaged in the infant textile industry, then organised on the basis of the domestic system (most of the work being undertaken in the home).

Business career
Like many others, Peel joined partnerships in order to raise the capital required to set up spinning mills. These were water powered (usually utilising the water frame invented by Richard Arkwright), and thus located by rivers and streams in country districts. Thus Peel and Yates set up a mill and housing for their workers at Burrs near Bury. As elsewhere, the shortage of labour in the rural districts was mitigated by employing pauper children as 'apprentices', imported from any locality that wanted them off their hands. They were housed in a kind of hostel.

Peel became quite rich, and lived at Chamber Hall in Bury, where his more famous son was born. Peel was listed as a subscriber to the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal navigation in 1791. He also built the first factory in nearby Radcliffe.

Political career
In politics, Peel was a staunch 'Church and King' man – in other words, a Tory. This was unusual, as many of the Lancashire mill owners were nonconformist and radical in their outlook. He was a paternalist towards his workforce. When elected Member of Parliament for Tamworth, he carried these principles into political life. He was responsible for the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, legislation that tried to limit the number of hours the children worked in the mills, and obliged the mill owners to provide some form of schooling. In 1800 he was created a Baronet, of Drayton Manor in the County of Stafford and of Bury in the County Palatine of Lancaster. In later years, he purchased property near Tamworth and started to adopt the lifestyle of a country gentleman, far removed from his roots.

Family
Peel married as his first wife Ellen Yates (the daughter of his partner) on 8 July 1783. They had eleven children, including:


 * Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
 * William Yates Peel, politician.
 * General Jonathan Peel, soldier and politician.
 * Laurence Peel (b. 1801), who married Lady Jane Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond.
 * Harriet Peel, who married the 2nd Baron Henley.

After the death of his first wife, Peel married Susanna Clerke (sister of Sir William Clerke) on 18 October 1805. The marriage was unsuccessful and the couple eventually separated, with Susanna moving to Warwickshire. She died on 10 September 1824. Sir Robert was at the time unwell and his children represented him at the funeral.