Born: 5 February 1788 in Bury, Lancashire

First entered Parliament: 15 April 1809

Age he became PM: 46 years, 308 days and 53 years, 206 days

Maiden speech: 23 January 1810 seconding the reply to the King's Speech at the opening of Parliament

Total time as PM: Five years, 57 days

Died: 2 July 1850 at Whitehall Gardens, London

Facts and figures

Nickname: "Orange Peel"

Education: Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford

Family: Peel was the eldest son and the third of 11 children. He was married to Julia Floyd, and had five sons and two daughters

Interests: Country sports, collecting paintings, reading

• Government Art Collection Portrait

Biography

Radical times

Robert Peel's period in government - as prime minister and in other offices - was a milestone for social reform. Landmark legislation cut working hours for women and children, created cheap and regular rail services, and reorganised the policing of London, changing society in radical ways.

The other achievement for which he is known - repealing the Corn Laws in 1846 - split his party, but earned him lasting popular fame as a humanitarian gesture.

Robert Peel was the son of a wealthy Lancashire cotton mill owner who was also Member of Parliament for Tamworth. It was a new-money background which some in his party would later use to goad him.

Peel's father was extremely ambitious for him, grooming him for politics and buying him his Commons seat. It is claimed that he told his son 'Bob, you dog, if you do not become prime minister some day I'll disinherit you'.

He was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, where he excelled, gaining a double first.

Just one year later, in 1809, Peel was elected MP for Cashel, Tipperary, though he was to represent many constituencies during his career, including that of Oxford University.

Considered an arch-unionist, and at that time opposed to Catholic emancipation, he was nicknamed "Orange Peel".

In 1822 he became Home Secretary after voluntarily resigning his position in Ireland in 1817. During his time, he introduced a number of important reforms of British criminal law.

His changes to the penal code resulted in around 100 fewer crimes being punished by death. He also reformed the gaol system with payment for jailers and education for the inmates. He retained the post of Home Secretary under Wellington in 1828.

Shocking turnaround

During this time Peel was persuaded of the case for Catholic emancipation after twenty years of opposition to it, and pushed the Catholic Emancipation Bill through

Parliament, arguing that civil strife was a greater danger. His turnabout on the matter shocked his supporters.

As Home Secretary Peel also created the Metropolitan Police in 1829, leading to the nicknames of "Bobby" (which still endures) and "Peeler" for London's police officers. On Earl Grey's resignation in 1834, Peel refused King William IV's invitation to form a government. liuxuepaper.com