Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.

Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington was a British Whig statesman who served continuously in government from 1715 until his death in 1743. He sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1698 and 1728, and was then raised to the peerage and sat in the House of Lords. He served as prime minister of Great Britain from 1742 until his death in 1743. He is considered to have been Britain's second prime minister, after Robert Walpole, but worked closely with the Secretary of State, Lord Carteret, in order to secure the support of the various factions making up the government.

Earl of Wilmington was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1730 for the politician Spencer Compton, 1st Baron Wilmington, who later served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1742 to 1743, during the reign of George II. He had already been created Baron Wilmington in 1728 and was made Viscount Pevensey at the same time as he was given the earldom. Compton was the third son of James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton. The titles became extinct on his death in 1743, as he left no male heirs.

The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, so they are invariably members of Parliament.

February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 318 days remain until the end of the year.