William Pitt was born at Hayes near Bromley, Kent on 28th 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 7th 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 26th 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's leading
Whig politician. Pitt joined Fox in his campaign
for peace with the American colonies. On 12th 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 shortening 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 31st 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 7th May he 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 2nd June for restricting abuses in public office was passed by
the House of Commons but rejected by the
House of Lords.
In Parliament he 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 19th 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, he refused to resign. After building up his popularity
in the country, Pitt called a general election on 24th 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 1st February, 1793.
Pitt's attitude towards political reform changed dramatically after
war was declared. In May 1793 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 120th 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.
James
Gillray, William Pitt's Policy
of Income Tax (1799)
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 21st 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 16th January, 1806.
He was so heavily in debt that the House of
Commons had to raise £40,000 to pay off his creditors.
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