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ROBERT PEEL

Sir Robert Peel was an English statesman. He was born in 1788 at Bury and died in 1850. He entered the House of Commons in 1809, and in 1811, he became a cabinet member as undersecretary for war and for the colonies. From 1812 to 1818, as chief secretary for Ireland, he suppressed Irish agitation for increased freedom for Roman Catholics. In 1822 he re-entered the cabinet as home secretary. He distinguished himself in this post through a series of penal reforms and, in 1829, by reorganising the London metropolitan police force, thereafter called 'Peelers' and 'bobbies', after him. Although he had successfully opposed a Roman Catholic emancipation bill in 1817, Peel later recognised the explosiveness of the Irish situation. He introduced and carried through the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, granting Roman Catholics political equality. He was twice Prime Minister, in 1834 and from 1841 until 1846.
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