Between 1757 and 1762, at the height of the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
, the Pitt–Newcastle ministry governed the
Kingdom of Great Britain
Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...
. It was headed by
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (21 July 1693 – 17 November 1768) was an English Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prim ...
, serving in his second stint as prime minister. The most influential and famous minister, however, was
William Pitt the Elder
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him "Chatham" or "Pitt the Elder" to distinguish him from his son ...
,
Secretary of State.
History
The ministry ended a period of political instability in which Great Britain had struggled in the war. Pitt was a strong war leader but lacked the support in
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
necessary to provide effective leadership. Newcastle provided this, as he had a solid support base in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
. They divided duties between each other; Pitt directed the defence and foreign policies, while Newcastle controlled the nation's finances and patronage.
The ministry led Britain to many victories in the war, particularly in the so-called
Annus Mirabilis of 1759, which put the country in a strong position by 1761; that year, however, Pitt resigned over a dispute concerning the entry of Spain into the war. Since King
George II died in 1760, the ministry had been under pressure by the accession of
George III, who disliked both Pitt and Newcastle and favoured
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British Tory statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He became the ...
. Bute, a
Tory
A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
, was made
Northern Secretary in March 1761, and following Pitt's resignation, the ministry is otherwise referred to as the Bute–Newcastle coalition.
In 1762 Newcastle was forced to resign, with his followers (the "Pelhamites") dismissed by Bute in what became known as the "Massacre of the Pelhamite Innocents";
this is traditionally considered to have been the moment the ministry collapsed.
Ministry
As compared to the 20th and 21st century, when
ministers hold a
cabinet-level position under the British prime minister, it is unclear which of the following ministers, beyond Pitt, functionally acted as members of Prime Minister Newcastle's cabinet.
See also
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11th Parliament of Great Britain
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1761 British general election
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Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War, which for Britain in fact lasted nine years, between 1754 and 1763. British involvement in the conflict began in 1754 in what became known as the French and Indian War. H ...
*
Whigs (British political party)
The Whigs were a political party in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Between the 1680s and the 1850s, the Whigs contested power with their rivals, the Tories. The Whigs became the Liberal ...
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitt-Newcastle ministry
British ministries
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
1757 establishments in Great Britain
1762 disestablishments in Great Britain
1750s in Great Britain
1760s in Great Britain
Ministries of George II of Great Britain
Ministries of George III
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham