Walpole, Sir Spencer

Walpole, Sir Spencer, 1839–1907, English historian. He held a number of minor public offices and served as private secretary in the home office to his father, Sir Spencer Horatio Walpole, whose biography he wrote (1874). He contributed to the newly founded Pall Mall Gazette but is chiefly remembered for his History of England from 1815 (5 vol., 1878–86) and its continuation, History of Twenty-five Years (4 vol., 1904–8), which covers the period from 1856 to 1880. His biography of the 1st Earl Russell appeared in 1889. He was knighted in 1898.