Robert Peel has retained a hard core…

Robert Peel has retained a hard core of supporters, known as Peelites, and at one point in 1849 had been actively courted by the Whig/Radical coalition.

He continued to stand on his conservative principles, however, and refused.

Nevertheless, he has been influential on several important issues, including the furtherance of British free trade with the repeal of the Navigation Acts.

Peel is a member of the committee that controls the House of Commons Library, and on April 16, 1850, is responsible for passing the motion that is to control its scope and collection policy for the rest of the century.

Peel is thrown from his horse while riding up Constitution Hill in London on June 29, 1850; the horse stumbles on top of him and he dies three days later on July 2 at the age of sixty-two.

His Peelite followers, led by Lord Aberdeen and William Gladstone, will go on to fuse with the Whigs as the Liberal Party.