Pitt, William *The Younger* Born: 28 MAY 1759 Hayes near Bromley, Kent, ENGLAND Sex: M Died: 16 JAN 1806 Occupation: Prime Minister of England 1783-1806
Relationship: 18. cousin 3 times removed, etc.
Ancestors:
Marriage(s) and Relationships:Notes: Source: Leo van de Pas.
William Pitt was born at Hayes near Bromley, Kent on 28. May 1759. He
suffered from poor health and was educated at home. His father, William
Pitt, Earl
of Chatham, was the former M.P. for Old Sarum and one of the most
important politicians of the period. The Earl of Chatham was determined
that his son
would eventually become a member of the House of Commons and at an
early age William was given lessons on how to become an effective orator.
When William was fourteen he was sent to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.
His health remained poor and he spent most of the time with his tutor,
the Rev. George
Pretyman. William, who studied Latin and Greek, received his M.A. in
1776.
William grew up with a strong interest in politics and spent much of
his spare time watching debates in parliament. On 7. April 1778 he was
present when his
father collapsed while making a speech in the House of Lords and
helped to carry his dying father from the chamber.
In 1781 Sir James Lowther arranged for William Pitt to become the
M.P. for Appleby. He made his first speech in the House of Commons on 26.
February,
1781. William Pitt had been well trained and afterwards, Lord North,
the prime minister, described it as the "best speech" that he had ever
heard.
Soon after entering the House of Commons, William Pitt came under
the influence of Charles Fox, Britain leading Whig politician. Pitt
joined Fox in his
campaign for peace with the American colonies. On 12. June he made a
speech where Pitt insisted that this was an "unjust war" and urged Lord
North's
government to bring it to an end.
Pitt also took an interest in the way that Britain elected Members
of Parliament. He was especially critical of the way that the monarchy
used the system to
influence those in Parliament. Pitt argued that parliamentary reform
was necessary for the preservation of liberty. In June 1782 Pitt
supported a motion for
shorting the duration of parliament and for measures that would
reduce the chances of government ministers being bribed.
When Lord Frederick North's government fell in March 1782, Charles
Fox became Foreign Secretary in Rockingham's Whig government. Fox left the
government in July 1782, as he was unwilling to serve under the new
prime minister, Lord Sherburne. Short of people willing to serve him,
Sherburne
appointed the twenty-three year old Pitt as his Chancellor of the
Exchequer. Fox interpreted Pitt's acceptance of this post as a betrayal
and after this the two
men became bitter enemies.
On the 31. March, 1783, Pitt resigned and declared that he was
"unconnected with any party whatever". Now out of power, Pitt turned his
attention once
more to parliamentary reform. On 7. May proposed a plan that
included: (1) checking bribery at elections; (2) disfranchising corrupt
constituencies; (3) adding
to the number of members for London. His proposals were defeated by
293 to 149. Another bill that he introduced on 2. June for restricting
abuses in public
office was passed by the House of Commons but rejected by the House
of Lords.
In Parliament Pitt opposed Charles Fox's India Bill. Fox responded
by making fun of Pitt's youth and inexperience and accusing him of
following "the headlong
course of ambition". George III was furious when the India Bill was
passed by the House of Commons. The king warned members of the House of
Lords that
he would regard any one who voted for the bill as his enemy.
Unwilling to upset the king, the Lords rejected the bill by 95 votes to
76.
The Duke of Portland's administration resigned and on 19. December,
1783, the king invited William Pitt to form a new government. At the age
of only
twenty-four, Pitt became Britain's youngest prime minister. When it
was announced that Pitt had accepted the king's invitation, the news was
received in the
House of Commons with derisive laughter.
Pitt had great difficulty finding enough people to join his
government. Except for himself, his cabinet of seven contained no members
of the House of
Commons. Charles Fox lead the attack on Pitt and although defeated
in votes several times in the House of Commons, Pitt refused to resign.
After building up
his popularity in the country, Pitt called a general election on 24.
March, 1784. Pitt's timing was perfect and 160 of Fox's supporters were
defeated at the
polls. Pitt himself stood for the seat of Cambridge University.
Pitt now had a majority in the House of Commons and was able to
persuade parliament to pass a series of measures including the India Act
that established dual
control of the East India Company. Pitt also attacked the serious
problem of smuggling by reducing duties on those goods that were mainly
being imported
illegally into Britain. The success of this measure established his
reputation as a shrewd politician.
In April 1785 Pitt proposed a bill that would bring an end to
thirty-six rotten boroughs and to transfer the seventy-two seats to those
areas where the population
was growing. Although Pitt spoke in favour of reform, he refused to
warn the House of Commons that he would resign if the measure was
defeated. The
Commons came to the conclusion that Pitt did not feel strongly about
reform and when the vote was taken it was defeated by 248 votes to 174.
Pitt accepted
the decision of the Commons and never made another attempt to
introduce parliamentary reform.
The general election of October 1790 gave Pitt's government an
increased majority. For the next few years Pitt was occupied with
Britain's relationship with
France. Pitt had initially viewed the French Revolution as a
domestic issue which did not concern Britain. However, Pitt became
worried when parliamentary
reform groups in Britain appeared to be in contact with French
revolutionaries. Pitt responded by issuing a proclamation against
seditious writings.
When Pitt heard that King Louis XVI had been executed in January
1793, he expelled the French Ambassador. In the House of Common's Charles
Fox and his
small group of supporters attacked Pitt for not doing enough to
preserve peace with France. Fox therefore blamed Pitt when France
declared war on Britain on
1. February, 1793.
Pitt's attitude towards political reform changed dramatically after
war was declared. In May William Pitt brought in a bill suspending Habeas
Corpus. Although
denounced by Charles Fox and his supporters, the bill was passed by
the House of Commons in twenty-four hours. Those advocating parliamentary
reform
were arrested and charged with sedition. Tom Paine managed to escape
but others such as Thomas Hardy, John Thellwall and Thomas Muir were
imprisoned.
Pitt decided to form a great European coalition against France and
between March and October 1793 he concluded alliances with Russia,
Prussia, Austria,
Spain, Portugal and some German princes. At first these tactics were
successful but during 1794 Britain and her allies suffered a series of
defeats. To pay for
the war Pitt was forced to increase taxation and to raise a loan of
£18 million. This problem was made worse by a series of bad harvests.
When going to open
parliament in October 1795, George III was greeted with cries of
'Bread', 'Peace' and 'no Pitt'. Missiles were also thrown and so Pitt
immediately decided to
pass a new Sedition Bill that redefined the law of treason.
Britain's continuing financial difficulties convinced Pitt to seek
peace with France. These peace proposals were rejected by the French in
May 1796 and William
Pitt once again had to introduce new taxes. This included duties on
horses and tobacco. The following year Pitt introduced additional taxes
on tea, sugar and
spirits. Even so, by November 1797, Britain had a budget deficit of
£22 million. On several occasions Pitt was in physical danger from angry
mobs and he had
to be constantly protected by an armed guard. Pitt's health began to
deteriorate and newspapers began reporting that the prime minister had
suffered a mental
breakdown and was insane. Pitt responded by passing new laws that
enabled the government to suppress and regulate newspapers.
Britain's financial problems continued and in his budget of December
1798 William Pitt introduced a new graduated income tax. Beginning with a
120. tax on
incomes of £60 and rising by degrees until it reached 10% on incomes
of over £200. Pitt believed that this income tax would raise £10 million
but in fact in
1799 the yield was just over £6 million.
In 1797 Pitt appointed Lord Castlereagh as his Irish chief secretary.
This was a time of great turmoil in Ireland and in the following year
Castlereagh played an
important role in crushing the Irish uprising. Castlereagh and Pitt
became convinced that the best way of dealing with the religious
conflicts in Ireland was to
unite the country with the rest of Britain under a single
Parliament. The policy was unpopular with the borough proprietors and the
members of the Irish
Parliament who had spent large sums of money purchasing their seats.
Castlereagh appealed to the Catholic majority and made it clear that
after the Act of
Union the government would grant them legal equality with the
Protestant minority. After the government paid compensation to the
borough proprietors and
promising pensions, official posts and titles to members of the
Irish Parliament, the Act of Union was passed in 1801.
George III disagreed with Pitt and Castlereagh's policy of Catholic
Emancipation. When Pitt discovered that the king had approached Henry
Addington to
become his prime minister, he resigned from office. Although Pitt
had been paid £10,500 a year as prime minister, he was now deeply in debt
and for a while he
feared that he would be declared bankrupt. A group of friends agreed
to help but it was only after selling his family home that he was able to
satisfy his
creditors.
In May 1804 Henry Addington resigned from office and once again
William Pitt became prime minister. Lord Castlereagh was appointed
Secretary for War but
many leading politicians, including Charles Fox, refused to serve
under Pitt. Out of the twelve man cabinet, only Pitt and Castlereagh were
from the House of
Commons.
With Napoleon planning to invade England, Pitt quickly formed a new
coalition with Russia, Austria and Sweden. When the French were defeated
at the Battle
of Trafalgar on 21. October 1805, Pitt was hailed as the savior of
Europe. However, Napoleon fought back and in December, 1805 he triumphed
over the
Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz.
Pitt was devastated by the news of Napoleon's victory and soon after
was taken seriously ill. William Pitt died on 16. January, 1806. He was
so heavily in
debt that the House of Commons had to raise £40,000 to pay off his
creditors.
Source: Spartacus Educational.
BOOKS (available at amazon.com):
Jeremy Black: William Pitt the Elder, Cambridge, 1993.
Peter Brown: William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, Allen & Unwin, 1978.
Eric Evans: William Pitt the Younger, Routledge, 1998.
Arnold Harvey: William Pitt: A Bibliography, Greenwood Press, 1989.
Jennifer Mori: William Pitt and the French Revolution, Keele University,
1997.
John Rose: William Pitt and the Great War, Greenwood Press, 1989.
Basil Williams: Life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, Frank Cass, 1966.
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