Horace Walpole

The Right Honourable The Earl of Orford
Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1756
Member of Parliament for King's Lynn
In office 25 February 1757 – 16 March 1769 Serving with Sir John Turner, 3rd Baronet
Preceded by	Horatio Walpole the Elder
Succeeded by	Thomas Walpole
Member of Parliament for Castle Rising
In office 21 May 1754 – 25 February 1757 Serving with Thomas Howard
Preceded by	Robert Knight
Succeeded by	Charles Boone
Member of Parliament for Callington
In office 12 June 1741 – 18 April 1754 Serving with Thomas Coplestone (1741–1748), Edward Bacon (1748–1754)
Preceded by	Isaac le Heup
Succeeded by	John Sharpe
Personal details
Born	Horatio Walpole (1717-09-24)24 September 1717 London, England, Great Britain
Died	2 March 1797(1797-03-02) (aged 79) Berkeley Square, London, Great Britain
Resting place	St Martin's Church, Houghton, Norfolk
Political party	Whig
Parents	Robert Walpole Catherine Shorter
Residence(s)	Strawberry Hill, London
Education	King's College, Cambridge
Occupation	Writer Art Historian Man of Letters Antiquarian Politician
Signature

Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (/ˈwɔːlpoʊl/; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician.^[1]

He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors. His literary reputation rests on the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764), and his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest.^[2] They have been published by Yale University Press in 48 volumes.^[3] In 2017, a volume of Walpole's selected letters was published.^[4]

The youngest son of the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, he became the 4th and last Earl of Orford of the second creation on his nephew's death in 1791.