William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...
led the government of the
Kingdom of Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...
from 1783 to 1801.
In 1800, the
Acts of Union between Great Britain and Ireland were accepted by their respective parliaments, creating the new
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...
(UK), which would be governed by the former
Parliament of Great Britain (now the
UK Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
). Pitt governed this new state for the first month of its existence, until differences with
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
over
Catholic emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
caused him to resign.
Cabinet
Changes
*March 1784The Duke of Rutland becomes
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, remaining also Lord Privy Seal.
*December 1784Lord Gower (Lord Stafford from 1786) succeeds Rutland as Lord Privy Seal (Rutland remains Viceroy of Ireland).
Lord Camden
Marquess Camden is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1812 for the politician John Pratt, 2nd Earl Camden. The Pratt family descends from Sir John Pratt, Lord Chief Justice from 1718 to 1725. His third son from hi ...
succeeds Gower as Lord President.
*November 1787
Lord Buckingham
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or a ...
succeeds Rutland as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
*July 1788
Lord Chatham, Pitt's elder brother, succeeds Lord Howe as First Lord of the Admiralty.
*June 1789
William Grenville (Lord Grenville from 1790) succeeds Lord Sydney as Home Secretary.
*October 1789
Lord Westmorland succeeds Buckingham as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
*June 1791
**Grenville succeeds the Duke of Leeds (Lord Carmarthen before 1789) as Foreign Secretary.
**
Henry Dundas
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Prime Minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18t ...
succeeds Grenville as Home Secretary.
**
Lord Hawkesbury
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...
(from 1796
Earl of Liverpool
Earl of Liverpool is a title that has been created twice in British history. The first time was in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1796 for Charles Jenkinson, 1st Baron Hawkesbury, a favourite of King George III (see Jenkinson baronets for ...
), the
President of the Board of Trade, joins the Cabinet.
*June 1792Lord Thurlow resigns as Lord Chancellor. The Great Seal goes into commission.
*January 1793
Lord Loughborough
Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn, PC, KC (3 February 1733 – 2 January 1805) was a Scottish lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1761 and 1780 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Loughborough. He se ...
becomes Lord Chancellor.
*July 1794
**
Lord Fitzwilliam
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
succeeds Camden as Lord President.
**Dundas takes the new Secretaryship of State for War, while the
Duke of Portland
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
succeeds him as Home Secretary.
**
Lord Spencer succeeds Stafford as Lord Privy Seal.
**
William Windham
William Windham (4 June 1810) of Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk, was a British Whig statesman. Elected to Parliament in 1784, Windham was attached to the remnants of the Rockinghamite faction of Whigs, whose members included his friends Charles J ...
enters the Cabinet as
Secretary at War
The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Afte ...
.
*December 1794
**Chatham succeeds Spencer as Lord Privy Seal.
**Spencer succeeds Chatham as First Lord of the Admiralty.
**Fitzwilliam succeeds Westmorland as Viceroy of Ireland.
**
Lord Mansfield
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, PC, SL (2 March 170520 March 1793) was a British barrister, politician and judge noted for his reform of English law. Born to Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth, Scotland, before moving to Lond ...
succeeds Fitzwilliam as Lord President.
*February 1795
Lord Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...
succeeds the Duke of Richmond as Master-General of the Ordnance.
*March 1795
Camden succeeds Fitzwilliam as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
*September 1796Chatham succeeds Mansfield as Lord President. Chatham remains Lord Privy Seal.
*February 1798Westmorland succeeds Chatham as Lord Privy Seal. Chatham remains Lord President.
*June 1798Cornwallis succeeds Camden as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, remaining also Master-General of the Ordnance.
*February 1801Grenville, Spencer, and Windham resign from the Cabinet. The first two are succeeded by
Lord Hawkesbury
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...
and
Lord St Vincent, while Windham's successor is not in the Cabinet.
Notes
References
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitt 1
British ministries
1783 establishments in Great Britain
1801 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
1780s in Great Britain
1790s in Great Britain
1800s in the United Kingdom
Ministries of George III of the United Kingdom
Ministry 1
Cabinets disestablished in 1801