The Duke of Newcastle's Letters on the Fall of Walpole in 1742

Abstract

• Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle, secretary of state and effective leader of the House of Lords in Sir Robert Walpole's whig ministry, was accused by Walpole after his fall in 1742 of having failed the ministry, along with Lord Hardwick, the lord chancellor, by not giving the required support. On the contrary, Newcastle's letters to his wife during the last crisis for the ministry show that he was greatly concerned for the ministry's survival and gave what support he could. These letters appear not to have been used by historians of Walpole's administration.