page_title: Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington
section_title: Paymaster of Pensions
hierarchical_section_title: Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington / Political career / Paymaster of Pensions
caption_attribution_description: English: Coat of arms of Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, KG, KB, PC
context_page_description: Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, KG, PC was a British Whig statesman who served continuously in government from 1715 until his death. He sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1698 and 1728, and was then raised to the peerage and sat in the House of Lords. He served as the Prime Minister from 1742 until his death in 1743. He is considered to have been Britain's second Prime Minister, after Sir Robert Walpole, but worked closely with the Secretary of State, Lord Carteret, in order to secure the support of the various factions making up the Government.
context_section_description: In 1707 Compton became Paymaster of Pensions, a post that he retained for the next six years. He was returned unopposed again at the 1708 British general election and was particularly active in Parliament thereafter. He remained as chairman of the committee of privileges and elections, and was a teller on the Whig side in many divisions. He managed several bills and on  14 December 1709 was nominated to the committee to draw up the articles of impeachment against  Dr Sacheverell. At the 1710 British general election he was dropped as a candidate for Eye by his patron Lord Cornwallis after a disagreement, and he was unwilling to risk standing anywhere else because of his involvement with the Sacheverell case. However he retained his post as Paymaster of Pensions after the Tory government took office in that year. It is believed that the Tories retained him because they sought to maintain the support of the Compton family. At the 1713 British general election he was returned as Whig MP for East Grinstead and when the Whigs took power in 1715 he was hopeful that he would enter a high office.
caption: Coat of arms of Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, KG, PC
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