William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne fall. The king and the Duke of Wellington urged him to stay on as prime minister. After Norton failed in court, Melbourne was vindicated, but he did stop seeing Norton. Nonetheless, as historian Boyd Hilton concludes, "it is irrefutable that Melbourne's personal life was problematic. Spanking sessions with aristocratic ladies were harmless, not so the whippings administered to orphan girls taken into his household as objects of charity." Melbourne was Prime Minister when Queen Victoria came to the throne (June 1837). Barely eighteen, she was only just breaking free from the domineering influence of her mother, the Duchess of Kent,
Peniston Lamb (1770–1805) in 1802, a seat he held until his death three years later. Peniston Lamb had an affair with the much older Mrs. Sophia Musters née Heywood (1758–1819). Lamb died of tuberculosis in January 1805, aged 34, unmarried without children. Peniston Lamb (1770–1805) The Honourable Peniston Lamb (3 May 1770 – 24 January 1805) was a British politician. Lamb was the eldest son of Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne, and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke, 5th Baronet. Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Frederick Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne and the Hon. George Lamb were his younger brothers. Due to