Colonel Robert Walpole (18 November 1650 – 18 November 1700) of Houghton Hall in Norfolk, was an English Whig politician and Colonel in the militia who served as a Member of Parliament for the borough of Castle Rising, Norfolk, from 1689 to 1700. He is mainly notable for being the father of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, considered to have been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. He is the ancestor of all the Barons Walpole and Earls of Orford, of all creations, and of the present Marquess of Cholmondeley, owner of Houghton Hall. He is also known as the Guinness World Records holder for having the world's longest overdue public library book. Origins He was born at Houghton Hall in 1650, the son and heir of Edward Walpole (d.1668) of Houghton (the family seat for over four decades), by his wife Susan Crane. His father ardently supported the Restoration of the Monarchy to King Charles II and was subsequently created a Knight of the Bath. Political career In January 1689 he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Castle Rising in Norfolk and was considered the most influential Whig in Norfolk and one of the most influential whigs in Parliament. He served as a Deputy Lieutenant for Norfolk when Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk was Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk. Marriage & issue In 1671 he married Mary Burwell, daughter and heiress of Sir Geoffrey Burwell of Rougham in Suffolk, by whom he had nineteen children, of whom only nine survived, two being stillborn and eight dying in infancy: Sons Edward Walpole (1674 – ?) Burwell Walpole (1675 – ?) Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (1676–1745), eldest surviving son and heir, who shortly after his father's death became a Member of Parliament and later held the offices of Secretary at War, Treasurer of the Navy, Paymaster of the Forces, First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Leader of the House of Commons, and became the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. He remained a Member of Parliament for forty years. John Walpole (1677 – ?) Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole (1678-1757), one of the earliest holders of that first name in England, later much used by his family and by his illustrious cousin Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), his father's great-great grandson, born one year after 1st Baron Walpole's death. Horatio was a character