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,
Second Melbourne ministry in 1839, she refused to let Sir Robert Peel replace them with Conservative ladies. This was known as the Bedchamber Crisis, and led to Peel's refusal to form a government. Melbourne therefore resumed, and continued in office until the Conservatives finally won a House of Commons majority in the General Election of 1841. He was succeeded by Sir Robert Peel's second government. The 1841 votes of no confidence against the government of Viscount Melbourne were votes of no confidence in the government of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne which occurred on the 7 June 1841. Melbourne lost the vote by