The Ancestry of the British Prime Ministers

THE ANCESTRY OF THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS

I have compiled the ancestry, back to great-great-grandparents, of the British prime ministers (PMs), from Walpole (generally regarded as the first) to the present.

My sources for the ancestry of the PMs are given on each page, at the end of the ancestor tables which are linked below. So far, I have not generally indicated which evidence has been used for each particular statement. For many of the PMs, much original research in the primary sources has been necessary to get the tables as complete as possible. Further investigation and the improving accessibility of sources will undoubtedly allow further details to be added in the future.

Several of the PMs are ancestors of (or share a significant proportion of their ancestry with) William, Prince of Wales. I have included some examples of this in the notes at the end of the PMs’ pages. The ancestry of King Charles III to the eighteenth generation is set out in Gerald Paget, The Lineage and Ancestry of HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Edinburgh and London, 1977). Although some of the sources Paget used were excellent, others contained significant errors, and unfortunately references are not given. I have therefore not relied on Paget’s work. Some additions and corrections to it were given by Gary Boyd Roberts in the early issues of The Genealogist. Richard K. Evans, The Ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales (Boston, 2007), covers twelve generations of the ancestry of William’s mother.

I welcome comments about these pages. My e-mail address is on my home page.

Edward J. Davies

Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (PM 1721-42)

Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington (PM 1742-43)

Henry Pelham (PM 1743-54) and Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (PM 1754-56, 1757-62)

William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (PM 1756-57)

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (PM 1762-63)

George Grenville (PM 1763-65)

Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (PM 1765-66, 1782)

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (PM 1766-68)

Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (PM 1768-70)

Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (PM 1770-82)