Compton, Spencer (1673–1743)

British Whig politician, prime minister and First Lord of the Treasury from 1742. He became Speaker of the House of Commons 1715 and a privy councillor 1716. In office he was regarded as weak and a mouthpiece for others.

Career During the 1720s, Compton held the lucrative post of paymaster general, but the complexities of ministerial office revealed his lack of ability. However, he enjoyed royal patronage, George II making him Lord President of the Privy Council and Earl of Wilmington 1730. The political machinations of the Whig party meant that he was prime minister in name only.

Background The third son of James, 3rd Earl of Northampton, Compton was educated at Oxford. In 1698, while abroad, he became member of Parliament for the constituency of Eye. Although elected as a Tory, he soon broke with his party and in 1705 the Whigs appointed him chair of the influential Committee of Privileges and Elections, a position he held for five years. In 1709, he joined the committee appointed to draw up articles of impeachment against the preacher and Whig opponent Henry Schaverall. This case became a cause célèbre which backfired on the Whig administration and helped bring the Tories to power the following year. Compton lost his seat in this election but returned to the House of Commons 1713 as MP for East Grinstead.

In office As Speaker, Compton executed his duties in a dignified, if somewhat unorthodox, manner that won him the respect of his colleagues. He turned down the king's offer of the premiership 1730, but when the cabinet split over the issue of war with Spain 1739, Robert Walpole fell from power and Compton, advocating war, became prime minister February 1742. Ineffective and politically impotent, he had few allies in Parliament and the real power lay with the dominant secretaries of state, John Carteret (1690–1763) and the Duke of Newcastle.