author
Robert Peel
A reform-minded British prime minister, he helped shape modern policing and left a lasting mark on the Conservative tradition. His career is also remembered for the dramatic repeal of the Corn Laws, a decision that split his party but changed British politics.
1 Audiobook
Oxford
by Robert Peel, Harry Christopher Minchin
About the author
Born in Lancashire in 1788, Sir Robert Peel rose quickly in public life and became one of the most important British politicians of the early Victorian era. He served twice as prime minister, in 1834–35 and again from 1841 to 1846, and he is widely associated with the development of the modern Conservative Party.
Peel is especially remembered for his time as home secretary, when he backed major legal and administrative reforms and founded the Metropolitan Police in 1829. The officers’ nicknames, “bobbies” and “peelers,” show how strongly his name became linked with modern policing.
His final years in office were defined by the bitter battle over the Corn Laws. By supporting repeal in 1846, Peel broke with much of his own party, but the move secured his reputation as a politician willing to put economic need and public welfare ahead of party unity. He died in 1850 after a riding accident.