Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington KG, KB, PC (18 March 1673 – 2 July 1743) was a British Whig statesman who served continuously in government from 1715 until his death. He served as the nominal head of government from 1742 until his death in 1743, but was merely a figurehead for the true leader of the government, Lord Carteret, the Secretary of State for the Northern Department. He is considered to have been Britain's second Prime Minister,...
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Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington KG, KB, PC (18 March 1673 – 2 July 1743) was a British Whig statesman who served continuously in government from 1715 until his death. He served as the nominal head of government from 1742 until his death in 1743, but was merely a figurehead for the true leader of the government, Lord Carteret, the Secretary of State for the Northern Department. He is considered to have been Britain's second Prime Minister, after Sir Robert Walpole.
Compton, the third son of the 3rd Earl of Northampton, was educated at St Paul's and at Trinity College, Oxford, then was admitted into Middle Temple. He entered the House of Commons for the first time in 1698, representing Eye in Suffolk. Although his family were High Tories, he turned to the Whigs after a quarrel with his brother, the 4th Earl of Northampton. In Parliament he soon stood out as prominent amongst the Whigs and began a partnership with Robert Walpole that would last for over forty years.
In 1707 he...
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