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Gothic novelist and politician Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, was born on September 24, 1717 in London, England. He was the youngest son of British Prime Minister Robert Walpole and was educated at Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge. Following his father’s politics, he was a devotee of King George II. In 1764, he published the Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto. From 1762 on, he published his Anecdotes of Painting in England, based on George Vertue’s manuscript notes. His memoirs of the Georgian social and political scene, though heavily biased, are a useful primary source for historians. He also created with coining the term Serendipity. Walpole died on March 2, 1717 in London and was buried within the family tomb at St. Martin’s Churchyard in New Houghton, Norfolk, England.
Michael Thomas Barry is the author of Literary Legends of the British Isles.
