Robert Peel

Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, born February 5, 1788, near Bury, Lancashire, and died July 2, 1850, served twice as Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from December 1834 to April 1835 and from August 1841 to June 1846. As Home Secretary in 1829 he founded London's Metropolitan Police, whose officers became known as bobbies or peelers after him, and his 1834 Tamworth Manifesto set out the founding principles of the modern Conservative Party. His second premiership is best remembered for the 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws, a free-trade measure that split the Conservative Party and forced his resignation. He died three days after being thrown from his horse while riding on Constitution Hill in London.