William Pitt the Younger Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
| Terms: | 19 December 1783-14 March 1801 10 May 1804-23 January 1806 |
| Predecessors: | The Duke of Portland Henry Addington |
| Successors: | Henry Addington The Lord Grenville |
| Date of Birth: | 28 May 1759 |
| Place of Birth: | Hayes, Kent |
| Date of Death: | 23 January 1806 |
| Place of Death: | London |
| Political Party: | Tory |
The younger Pitt's prime ministerial tenure, which came during the reign of George III, was dominated by major events in Europe, including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Pitt, a Tory, was both the youngest and one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers in British history.
Early life
William Pitt the Younger, the son of William Pitt the Elder (afterwards Earl of Chatham) and the Lady Hester Pitt, was born in Hayes, Kent. Pitt the Younger's father was an important British statesman, as was his maternal uncle, George Grenville. Pitt the Younger was the second son and fourth child out of five; his elder brother, John Pitt, also had a political career.
William Pitt the Younger, sickly as a boy, was educated at home by the Reverend Edward Wilson. An intelligent child, Pitt quickly became proficient in Latin and Greek. In 1773, aged but fourteen years, he attended Pembroke Hall at the University of Cambridge, where he studied political philosophy, the Classics, and history. In 1776, Pitt, plagued by poor health, took advantage of a little-used privilege available only to the sons of noblemen, and chose to graduate without having to pass examinations.
Pitt's father, who had by then been created Earl of Chatham, died in 1778. As a younger son, Pitt the Younger received a miniscule inheritance. He received legal education at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1780.
Early political career
During the general elections of September 1780, Pitt contested the University of Cambridge seat, but lost. Still intent to enter Parliament, Pitt, with the help of his university comrade, Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland, secured the patronage of Sir James Lowther. Lowther effectively controlled the pocket borough of Appleby; a by-election in that constituency sent Pitt to the House of Commons in January 1781.
In Parliament, the youthful Pitt cast aside the withdrawn and aloof nature that characterised him during his university days, emerging as a noted parliamentarian and debater. Pitt originally aligned himself with prominent Whigs such as Charles James Fox. With the WHigs, Pitt denounced the continuation of the American War of Independence. Instead, he proposed that Prime Minister, Frederick North, Lord North, make peace with the rebellious American colonies. Moreover, Pitt supported parliamentary reform measures, including a proposal that would have checked electoral corruption.
Lord North's ministry having collapsed in 1782, the Whig Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham was appointed Prime Minister. Pitt was offered the minor post of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; however, demonstrating extraordinary self-confidence, he refused to accept the position, which he deemed too subordinate for him. Only three months after he came to power, Lord Rockingham died, to be succeeded by another Whig, William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne. Many Whigs who had formed a part of the Rockingham ministry, including Charles James Fox, now refused to serve under the new Prime Minister. Pitt, however, was not reluctant to join the Shelburne Government, and was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Fox, who became Pitt's lifelong political rival, then joined a coalition with Lord North, with whom he collaborated to bring about the defeat of the Shelburne administration. When Lord Shelburne resigned in 1783, King George III, who despised Fox, offered to appoint Pitt to the office of Prime Minister. Pitt, however, wisely declined, realising that he would be incapable of securing the support of the House of Commons. The Fox-North Coalition took power in a Government nominally headed by William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland.
Pitt, who no longer remained Chancellor of the Exchequer, joined the Opposition. He raised the issue of parliamentary reform in order to strain the uneasy Fox-North Coalition, which included both supporters and detractors of reform. He did not advocate an expansion of the electoral franchise, but he did seek to address bribery and rotten boroughs. Though his propsal failed, many reformers in Parliament came to regard him as their leader, in the place of Charles James Fox.
First Ministry
The Fox-North Coalition fell in December 1783, after Fox introduced a bill to reform the British East India Company. The King was opposed to the bill; when it passed in the House of Commons, he secured its defeat in the House of Lords by threatening to regard anyone who voted for it as his enemy. Following the bill's failure in the Upper House, George III dismissed the coalition and entrusted the premiership to William Pitt. Pitt, at the age of twenty-four, became Great Britain's youngest Prime Minister ever, and was ridiculed for his youth. A popular ditty commented that it was "a sight to make all nations stand and stare: a kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care." However, although it was widely predicted that the new administration would soon fall, it survived for seventeen years.
So as to reduce the power of the Opposition, Pitt offered Charles James Fox and his allies posts in the Cabinet; Pitt's refusal to include Lord North, however, thwarted his efforts. The new Government was immediately on the defensive, and was defeated on a Motion of No Confidence in January 1784. Pitt, however, took the unprecedented step of refusing to resign despite such a defeat. He retained the support of the King, who could not tolerate the Fox-North Coalition. Despite a series of defeats, Pitt defiantly remained in office, watching the Coalition's majority shrink as some Members of Parliament left the Opposition to join his side. The defectors, however, were not sufficiently numerous to give Pitt a majority. In March 1784, Parliament was dissolved, and general elections ensued. An electoral defeat for the Government was out of the question, for Pitt enjoyed the support of King George III. With the aid of patronage and bribes paid by the Treasury, the Government won a comfortable majority in the House of Commons. Pitt was himself elected a Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge, a constituency which he would continue to represent for the remainder of his life.
His administration secure, Pitt could begin to enact his agenda. His first major piece of legislation was the India Act 1784, which re-organised the British East India Company. The India Act created a new Board of Control to oversee the affairs of the East India Company. The Act also centralised British rule in India by reducing the power of the Governors of Bombay and Madras and by increasing that of the Governor-General. Further augmentations of the Governor-General's authority were made in 1786.
In domestic politics, Pitt also concerned himself with the cause of parliamentary reform. In 1785, he introduced a bill to remove the representation of thirty-six rotten boroughs, and to extend the electoral franchise to more individuals. Pitt's support for the bill, however, was not strong enough to prevent its defeat in the House of Commons. The bill introduced in 1785 was Pitt's last reform proposal introduced in Parliament.
Another important domestic issue with which Pitt had to concern himself was the national debt, which had assumed staggering proportions due to the rebellion of the North American colonies. Pitt sought to eliminate the national debt by imposing new taxes. Pitt also introduced measures to reduce smuggling and fraud. In 1786, he instituted a sinking fund to reduce the national debt. Each year, £1,000,000 of the surplus revenue raised by new taxes was to be added to the fund so that it could accumulate interest; eventually, the money in the fund was to be used to pay off the national debt. The system was extended in 1792 so as to take into account any new loans taken by the Government.
In 1788, the United Kingdom faced a major crisis when King George III fell victim to a serious mental illness. The laws of the kingdom included no provisions relating to insane monarchs; hence, it was unclear as to how a Regency could be put into place. All factions in Parliament agreed that the only viable candidate for Regent was the King's eldest son, HRH The Prince George, Prince of Wales. The Prince, however, was a supporter of Charles James Fox; had he come to power, he would almost surely have dismissed Pitt. However, he did not have such an opportunity, as Parliament spent months debating legal technicalities relating to the Regency. Fortunately for Pitt, George III recovered in February 1789, just after a Regency Bill had been introduced and passed in the House of Commons.
French Revolution
In 1790 the Spanish claims to exclusive control of the western side of North America were crushed following the Nootka Sound Controversy. Canada was divided between the French and the British by the Constitutional Act of 1791.
Pitt had sought European alliances to restrict French power, signing agreements with Prussia and the United Provinces in 1788. But the government delayed intervening in Europe following the French Revolution as long as possible: the French had to declare war on February 1, 1793 before Britain would act. Pitt refused to act to restore the monarchy and confined his resources to guarding the most vital interests of the empire. He formed an alliance with Austria, Prussia, Spain and the United Provinces. He responded to the demonstrations of reformers by clamping down on seditious publications and in 1794 habeas corpus was suspended (until 1801). The French repeatedly beat Britain's allies on the battlefield, the First Coalition collapsing around 1798. The fall of the Second Coalition with the defeat of the Austrians at Marengo (June 14, 1800) left Britain facing France alone. With a lull in active hostilities Pitt was distracted by the Irish: inflamed by revolutionary ideas there had been a rebellion in 1798 and religious tensions were worse than ever. Pitt sought a union of the two countries and also, controversially, Catholic emancipation. Blocked by his cabinet and the King he resigned on February 3, 1801.
Henry Addington, a political friend of Pitt, headed the new government. The King suffered a renewed bout of madness and when he recovered in March, 1802 he accused Pitt of inciting the attack by arguing the Catholic issue. Pitt supported the new government but with little enthusiasm; he was frequently absent from Parliament. A series of British military victories led to the signing of the Treaty of Amiens (March, 1802). War with the French was renewed in earnest from May 1803 and Pitt returned to the House a strong critic of government policy. Addington lost support and in May 1804 resigned. Pitt was approached to head a new government and agreed.
Pitt's new government was shaky in the House and under unrelenting pressure from the activities of Napoleon. Pitt put great effort into forming a coalition with Austria, Russia and Sweden. Pitt was highly confident in the success of the Third Coalition but military defeats at Ulm (September-October, Austrians) and Austerlitz (December 2, Russians and Austrians) led to its collapse. The threat of invasion grew ever closer throughout the year until Nelson secured British control of the seas with his vital victory at Trafalgar (October 21). The set-backs took a toll on Pitt's health - he made a last public speech in November and by early January, 1806 he was doing so poorly that MPs were considering forcing him to resign to preserve his life. He died on January 23 and was buried at Westminster Abbey. In Parliament a motion to pay his debts (£40,000) was carried unanimously. He was replaced as Prime Minister by Lord Grenville.
| Preceded by: The Lord John Cavendish | Chancellor of the Exchequer 1782-1783 | Succeeded by: The Lord John Cavendish |
| Preceded by: The Duke of Portland | Prime Minister of Great Britain 1783-1801 | Succeeded by: Henry Addington |
| Preceded by: The Lord John Cavendish | Chancellor of the Exchequer 1783-1801 | |
| Preceded by: The Earl of Guilford | Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1792-1806 | Followed by: The Earl of Liverpool |
| Preceded by: Henry Addington | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1804-1806 | Succeeded by: The Lord Grenville |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer 1804-1806 | Succeeded by: The Lord Henry Petty |
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