Prime Ministers (18th Century), Part 4
1782-1801: the Earl of Shelburne, the Duke of Portland, William Pitt the Younger
After
the Earl of Shelbourne (1737-1805, PM 1782/83), the Duke of Portland (1738-
1809) tried to lead the "Fox-North-coalition" (Whig Charles James Fox and
Tory Lord North), but neither pleased King
George
III, so he finally asked William Pitt, the Younger (1759-1806) to take the
lead.
He was then (and still is) the youngest Prime Minister in British history,
being 24 years old in December 1783, when he
became "First
Lord of the Treasury". At first, the older politicians (almost everyone there)
in the Houses didn´t like the thought to serve under such a young man,
but in the end he was able to achieve a lot of the things he wanted to, during
his reign until 1801, when he resigned after a debate with King George III.
On the right, you can see signatures of Portland and Pitt, the Younger; on the left a picture of Pitt.
The painting on the right below shows a session in the "House of Commons"
with the Younger Pitt standing in the middle
(1793).
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