Walpole was christened Horatio after his uncle, Horatio Walpole, later Baron Walpole of Walterton, but disliked the name and later anglicized it to Horace. Walpole was eleven years younger than his next sibling, and showed little resemblance to the rest of the family in either looks or interests. This lack of resemblance later lent some credence to rumors that he was actually the son of Carr, Lord Hervey, rather than of Sir Robert Walpole. These rumors, while scandalous, appear to be entirely unfounded, and Walpole himself, who wrote about his own life at great length, never showed any inkling of doubt as to his parentage.
Walpole spent most of his early years at his father's house near Chelsea College, a building later merged into the Royal Military Hospital. Some of his early schooling took place at Bexley, in Kent, under the supervision of the Reverend Edward Weston, son of the bishop of Exeter. Always one to want to be part of the great events of his day, Walpole records being taken in 1727, at his own request, to kiss the hand of George I, who was then nearing the end of his life.
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