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William Pitt the Younger

The second son of William Pitt, earl of Chatham, the inspirational prime minister who had led Britain against France during the Seven Years' War, William Pitt the Younger was born in 1759.

Youngest PM
He was educated privately by his father (who made him pay particular attention to public speaking), and went to Cambridge University at the age of 14. He entered parliament in 1781, and soon made his mark as a critic of Lord North, who had lost the American colonies, and as an advocate of reform. Shy and uneasy with people, Pitt had a conviction that he was born to do great things.

Appointed chancellor of the Exchequer in 1782, he became an expert in biding his time, accepting the post of prime minister in December 1783 only after persuading George III to make a public declaration of confidence in him. He was only 24, and remains Britain's youngest-ever prime minister. Although at first he led a minority government, he won a decisive general election victory in 1784.

Finances and reform
During peacetime, Pitt achieved many fiscal, economic and commercial reforms and proved his mastery of public finances. But his proposals for a moderate reform of Parliament were defeated, and he failed to abolish the slave trade. His position looked shaky in 1788, when George III suffered an attack of mental illness, but when the king recovered, Pitt seemed invincible. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, Pitt was sympathetic to ideas of reform in France but always hoped that Britain could remain free of European entanglements. As late as 1792, he expected 15 years of peace in Europe. The outbreak of war a year later was a disaster for him. His hopes for reform had to be postponed and he became 'the pilot who weathered the storm', leading Britain in the long war against France.

The good minister
After a rebellion broke out in Ireland in 1798, Pitt tried to grant reforms that removed the discrimination suffered by Catholics. In 1800, the Act of Union of Britain and Ireland was passed, but Pitt fell out with George III over the issue of Catholic emancipation. In 1801, he resigned.

Pitt's style of leadership was cool and cautious. He didn't entertain, he didn't indulge his powers of patronage (although he created 119 new peers) and he earned loyalty for his integrity. A careful administrator and able reformer, Pitt was not a born radical, and always balanced the need for reform with a calculation of the opposition it might bring. A pragmatist, he was suspicious of rhetoric and passion. Apparently indifferent to women, his public image was that of a strict, haughty and distant man known as 'the good minister'. His main indulgences were port and ever-mounting debts.

In 1804, Pitt was recalled and became prime minister again. Soon the strain of political life began to tell on his health, and the stress of building a European coalition against Napoleon hastened his end. Not long after hearing news of Napoleon's brilliant victory at Austerlitz, Pitt died on 23 January 1806. His main legacy was the creation of a popular Toryism, which became increasing significant in early 19th-century Britain.

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