Editing Robert Peel (section)

==Legacy==
[[Image:Thomas Lawrence - Sir Robert Peel, Bart - 1957-15-2 - Auckland Art Gallery.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of Robert Peel by [[Thomas Lawrence]]]]

===Memory and recognition===
In his lifetime many critics called him a traitor to the Tory cause, or as "a Liberal wolf in sheep's clothing", because his final position reflected liberal ideas.<ref>{{cite book|author= Richard A. Gaunt|title= Sir Robert Peel: The Life and Legacy|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SFYBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3|year= 2010|publisher=I.B. Tauris|page= 3|isbn= 9780857716842}}</ref> Others idealised Peel in heroic terms; [[Thomas Carlyle]] referred to him as a "reforming Hercules" in ''[[Latter-Day Pamphlets]]'' (1850).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carlyle |first=Thomas |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1140/1140-h/1140-h.htm#link2H_4_0003 |title=Latter-Day Pamphlets |year=1850 |chapter=No. III. Downing Street [April 1, 1850] |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1140/1140-h/1140-h.htm#link2H_4_0003 |access-date=4 October 2023 |archive-date=27 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727042230/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1140/1140-h/1140-h.htm#link2H_4_0003 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The latter would become the consensus view of scholars for much of the 20th century. Historian [[Boyd Hilton]] wrote that he was portrayed as:{{blockquote|The great Conservative patriot: a pragmatic gradualist, as superb in his grasp of fundamental issues as he was adroit in handling administrative detail, intelligent enough to see through abstract theories, a conciliator who put nation before party and established consensus politics.<ref>Boyd Hilton, "Peel: A Reappraisal," ''Historical Journal'' 22#3 (1979) pp. 585–614 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638656 quote p. 587] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216021057/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2638656 |date=16 February 2017 }}</ref>}}

Biographer [[Norman Gash]] wrote that Peel "looked first, not to party, but to the state; not to programmes, but to national expediency".<ref>Gash, vol. 1, pp 13–14.</ref> Gash added that among his personal qualities were, "administrative skill, capacity for work, personal integrity, high standards, a sense of duty [and] an outstanding intellect".<ref>Gash, vol. 2, p. 712.</ref>

{{Conservatism UK}}

Gash emphasised the role of personality in Peel's political career:{{blockquote|Peel was endowed with great intelligence and integrity, and an immense capacity for hard work. A proud, stubborn, and quick-tempered man he had a passion for creative achievement; and the latter part of his life was dominated by his deep concern for the social condition of the country. Though his great debating and administrative talents secured him an outstanding position in Parliament, his abnormal sensitivity and coldness of manner debarred him from popularity among his political followers, except for the small circle of his intimate friends. As an administrator he was one of the greatest public servants in British history; in politics he was a principal architect of the modern conservative tradition. By insisting on changes unpalatable to many of his party, he helped to preserve the flexibility of the parliamentary system and the survival of aristocratic influence. The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 won him immense prestige in the country, and his death in 1850 caused a national demonstration of sorrow unprecedented since the death of William Pitt in 1806.<ref>Norman Gash, "Peel, Sir Robert" ''Collier Encyclopedia'' (1996), v. 15, p. 528.</ref>}}

Peel was the first British Prime Minister to have been photographed while in office.<ref>Adelman, ''Peel and the Conservative Party: 1830–1850'', 86–87; Ramsay, 365.</ref>
Peel is featured on the cover of [[The Beatles]]' [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (album)|''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'']] album.

A 2021 study in ''[[The Economic Journal]]'' found that the repeal of the corn laws adversely affected the welfare of the top 10% of income earners in Britain, whereas the bottom 90% of income earners gained.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Irwin |first1=Douglas A. |last2=Chepeliev |first2=Maksym G. |date=2021 |title=The Economic Consequences of Sir Robert Peel: A Quantitative Assessment of the Repeal of the Corn Laws* |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueab029 |journal=The Economic Journal |volume=131 |issue=ueab029 |pages=3322–3337 |doi=10.1093/ej/ueab029 |issn=0013-0133 |access-date=15 May 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004014537/https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/131/640/3322/6219863?redirectedFrom=fulltext |url-status=live}}</ref>

A student association of the [[University of Glasgow]], the Peel Club was founded in 1836 and named after Peel (who was a patron of the organisation).<ref>{{cite web |title=UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW—PEEL CLUB |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1840/mar/17/university-of-glasgow-peel-club#S3V0052P0_18400317_HOC_19 |access-date=2024-08-15 |work=Hansard}}</ref> It later became the [[Glasgow University Conservative Association]].<ref>[http://cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=search&fieldidx1=bath.corporateName&fieldrel1=exact&fieldcont1=glasgow%20university%20conservative%20club Listing of the society's archival holdings on the University of Glasgow Archives Hub]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070411/http://cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=search&fieldidx1=bath.corporateName&fieldrel1=exact&fieldcont1=glasgow%20university%20conservative%20club Archived] from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2024.</ref> In 2024, a group claiming to be the revived Peel Club was founded in Pall Mall, London.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thepeelclub.org/archive | title=Archives }}</ref>

===Art collector===
From 1820 Peel began amassing a major art collection, acquiring works by Dutch and Flemish [[Old Masters]]. He also commissioned a number of paintings by contemporary British artists including ''[[A Frost Scene]]'' by [[William Collins (painter)|William Collins]], ''Napoleon Musing at St Helena'' by [[Benjamin Robert Haydon]] and ''John Knox Preaching Before the Lords of Congregation'' by [[David Wilkie (artist)|David Wilkie]].<ref>Gash, Norman. ''Mr Secretary Peel: The Life of Sir Robert Peel to 1830''. Faber & Faber, 2011. p.275-6</ref>

The biggest commissions Peel handed out were to [[Sir Thomas Lawrence]], the [[President of the Royal Academy]], who painted fifteen portraits for him between 1820 and his death in 1830. This made Peel Lawrence's greatest patron after [[George IV]]. The works Lawrence produced featured leading politicians and prominent figures of literature as well as portraits of Peel's family, notably his 1827 ''[[Portrait of Julia, Lady Peel]]''. <ref>Gash, Norman. ''Mr Secretary Peel: The Life of Sir Robert Peel to 1830''. Faber & Faber, 2011. p.277-79</ref>
Peel displayed his Old Masters in his London residence at Whitehall Gardens, while Lawrence's portraits were located in a dedicated gallery at Drayton Manor.<ref>Gash p.279-80 </ref> Many of these works were then sold by his son to the [[National Gallery]] in 1871.