The Right Honourable William Pitt | |
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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In office 10 May 1804 – 23 January 1806 | |
Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | Henry Addington |
Succeeded by | The Lord Grenville |
Prime Minister of Great Britain
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In office 19 December 1783 – 14 March 1801 | |
Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | The Duke of Portland |
Succeeded by | Henry Addington (As Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) |
Chancellor of the Exchequer
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In office 10 May 1804 – 23 January 1806 | |
Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | Henry Addington |
Succeeded by | Lord Henry Petty |
In office 19 December 1783 – 14 March 1801 | |
Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | Lord John Cavendish |
Succeeded by | Henry Addington |
In office 10 July 1782 – 31 March 1783 | |
Monarch | George III |
Preceded by | Lord John Cavendish |
Succeeded by | Lord John Cavendish |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Tory (scholar consensus)[1] Independent Whig (self description)[2] |
Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
William Pitt was born 28 May 1759 in Hayes, Kent, England, United Kingdom to William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708-1778) and Hester Grenville, 1st Baroness Chatham (1720-1803) and died 23 January 1806 London, England, United Kingdom of unspecified causes.
William Pitt the Younger (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24. He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was also the Chancellor of the Exchequer throughout his premiership. He is known as "the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder, who previously served as Prime Minister of Great Britain. In 1766 he gained the style of The Honourable when his father was created an Earl.
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, although often referred to as a Tory, or "new Tory", called himself an "independent Whig" and was generally opposed to the development of a strict partisan political system.
He is best known for leading Britain in the great wars against France and Napoleon. Pitt was an outstanding administrator who worked for efficiency and reform, bringing in a new generation of outstanding administrators. He raised taxes to pay for the great war against France, and cracked down on radicalism. To meet the threat of Irish support for France, he engineered the Acts of Union 1800 and tried (but failed) to get Catholic Emancipation as part of the Union. Pitt created the "new Toryism," which revived the Tory Party and enabled it to stay in power for the next quarter-century. Historian Charles Petrie concludes that he was one of the greatest prime ministers "if on no other ground than that he enabled the country to pass from the old order to the new without any violent upheaval....He understood the new Britain."[3]
References
- ^ "William Pitt the Younger". Britannia.com. http://www.britannia.com/gov/primes/prime16.html. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
- ^ Hague 2005, p.582
- ^ Charles Petrie, "The Bicentenary of the Younger Pitt," Quarterly Review, 1959, Vol. 297 Issue 621, pp 254–265
Footnotes (including sources)
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