George Grenville

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

William Dowdeswell
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office
14 October 1762 – 16 April 1763
Prime MinisterThe Earl of Bute
Preceded byThe Earl of Halifax
Succeeded byThe Earl of Sandwich
Northern Secretary
In office
27 May 1762 – 9 October 1762
Prime MinisterThe Earl of Bute
Preceded byThe Earl of Bute
Succeeded byThe Earl of Halifax
Member of Parliament
for Buckingham
In office
11 June 1741 – 13 November 1770
Preceded byRichard Grenville
Succeeded byJames Grenville
Personal details
Born(1712-10-14)14 October 1712
)
Spouse
(m. 1749; died 1769)
Children8; including George, Charlotte, Thomas and William
Parents
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford
Eton College
Signature

George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a

Cobham's Cubs, a group of young members of Parliament associated with Lord Cobham
.

In 1754, Grenville became

George III and replaced by Lord Rockingham
. For the last five years of his life, Grenville led a group of his supporters in opposition and staged a public reconciliation with Pitt.

Early life: 1712-1741

Family

Coat of arms of Grenville of Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire: Vert, on a cross argent five torteaux

George Grenville was born at

Hester Grenville married the leading political figure William Pitt. His elder brother was Richard Grenville, later the 2nd Earl Temple. It was intended by his parents that George Grenville should become a lawyer.[2]

Education

Grenville was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford, but did not graduate.[3]

Early political career: 1741-1756

Member of Parliament

Cobham faction; in 1749, ownership of the estate passed to Grenville's brother Richard
.

He entered Parliament in 1741 as one of the two members for Buckingham, and continued to represent that borough for the next twenty-nine years until his death.[3] He was disappointed to be giving up what appeared to be a promising legal career for the uncertainties of opposition politics.[4]

In Parliament, he subscribed to the "Boy Patriot" party, which opposed Sir

Cobham's Cubs
.

Administration

In December 1744 he became a Lord of the

Lord of the Treasury.[3]

In 1754 Grenville was made

Continental European disputes. Opposition to European entanglements was a cornerstone
of Patriot Whig thinking.

He and Pitt joined the opposition, haranguing the Newcastle government. Grenville and Pitt both championed the formation of a British

loss of Minorca
, the government grew increasingly weak until it was forced to resign in Autumn 1756.

In Government: 1756-1763

Treasurer of the Navy

Pitt then formed a government led by the

Lord Bute who were both now opposed to Pitt.[7]

In 1758, as Treasurer of the Navy, he introduced and carried a bill which established a fairer system of paying the wages of seamen and supporting their families while they were at sea which was praised for its humanity if not for its effectiveness.

Annus Mirabilis of 1759 for which the credit went to the government of which he was a member. However his seven-year-old son died after a long illness and Grenville remained by his side at their country house in Wotton and rarely came to London.[9]

In 1761, when Pitt resigned upon the question of the war with Spain, and subsequently functioned as

Northern Secretary

Grenville served under British Prime Minister Lord Bute between 1762 and 1763 and later succeeded him.

In May 1762, Grenville was appointed Northern Secretary, where he took an increasingly hard line in the negotiations with France and Spain designed to bring the Seven Years' War to a close.[11]

Grenville demanded much greater compensation in exchange for the return of British conquests, while Bute favored a more generous position which eventually formed the basis of the Treaty of Paris. In spite of this, Grenville had now become associated with Bute rather than his former political allies who were even more vocal in their opposition to the peace treaty than he was. In October he was made First Lord of the Admiralty. Henry Fox took over as Leader of the Commons, and forced the peace treaty through parliament.

Bute's position grew increasingly untenable and stable as he was extremely unpopular, which led to him offering his resignation to George III on several occasions. Bute was the target of the radical John Wilkes's criticism and satire and he ridiculed in Wilkes' newspaper The North Briton, stereotypical reference to the prime minister's Scottish heritage.

Prime Minister: 1763-1765

Appointment

Bute's intention to resign was genuine, and the hostile press attacks and the continuing unpopularity of his government finally led to

King George III
to reluctantly accept his resignation. Though the king was unsure whom should be appoint to the position and Bute highly recommended that the King should appoint Grenville as the new prime minister. Despite the King's disapproval and distrust of his ministers, he considered appointed Grenville to office.

When Grenville was asked about becoming the new prime minister, he agreed only on the condition that Bute would not take an active part in politics and be barred from voicing policies for the government. The King agreed and thus appointed Grenville as new Prime Minister. George III assured Grenville that "he meant to put his government solely into his hand". Grenville set to work and formed his government on 16 April 1763. He appointed two of his trusted allies Lord Halifax and Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont as Northern Secretary and Southern Secretary respectively. He also appointed the Lord Northington as Lord High Chancellor, Lord Granville as Lord President of the Council as well.

Domestic issues

Arrest of John Wilkes

Member of Parliament John Wilkes
, a radical reformer and political activist who promoted parliamentary representation and reform, whose critique of the former prime minister led to his resignation. Wilkes was regarded by many as threat to the government and therefore was treated suspiciously. In 1763, it came to be one of Grenville's first acts to prosecute Wilkes for publishing in
secretaries of state
, for it was perceived as a violation of individual liberty that raised the political discontent.

After fighting a duel with a supporter of the Grenville ministry, Samuel Martin, Wilkes fled to France for asylum. Despite, government officials calling on him to be arrested, Wilkes was later returned to England and was elected and re-elected by the Middlesex constituency. He was continually refused admission to parliament by parliament, and proved a problem to several successive governments.

Monetary debt

During the time of the Seven Years' War, was a tumultuous period in the history of Europe and was fought on a global conflict scale. Even though Great Britain defeated France and its allies and rose to the position as a dominant world power, the victory came at a great cost. In January 1763, Great Britain's national debt was more than £122 million pounds, an enormous sum for the time. Interest on the debt was more than £4.4 million a year. Figuring out how to pay the interest alone absorbed the attention of the King and his ministers.[12]

As Britain was trying to recover from the costs of the Seven Years' War and now in dire need of finances for the British army in the American colonies, Grenville's most immediate task was to restore the nation's finances. He also had to deal with the fall-out from

Pontiac's Rebellion, which erupted in North America in 1763. Although, initially, prominent measures of his government included the prosecution of John Wilkes, focus shifted from arresting radicals to paying off the national debt. The passing of the tax measures in America had proved to be a disaster and would lead to the first symptoms of alienation between American colonies and Great Britain.[3]

Colonial reforms

Cartoon depicting the repeal of the Stamp Act as a funeral, with Grenville carrying a child's coffin marked "Miss America Stamp born 1765, died 1766" (The Skulls refer to the Scottish Rebellions of 1715 and 1745)
An English Newspaper on the repeal of the Stamp Act

Measures and taxes

Many of the acts passed by the British were perceived by the colonists as threatening to their liberties. Although not a part of the Grenville government's programme, the issue was generally attributed to him by the colonists. Another one of the most controversial acts passed by Grenville was the

Major General Thomas Gage
, commander-in-chief in North America, to give better housing for his troops stationed in the colonies.

One of the more prominent measures of the Grenville's government occurred in March 1765 when Grenville authored the

newspapers be printed on stamped paper from London bearing an embossed revenue stamp that had to be paid for in British currency. It was met with general outrage and resulted in public acts of disobedience and rioting throughout the colonies in America.[13]

Foreign policy

The signing of the treaty in February 1763 formally marked the conclusion of the Seven Years' War experienced by Britain and as such, foreign policy, along with military policy and diplomacy, no longer became the dominant concern of both domestic politics and government agenda. Focus thus shifted to seemingly more relevant issues such as the survival of the Grenville Ministry. But overall the British relations, after negotiating, with the French and the Spanish, remained hostile and suspicious of its enemies and that wariness concluded the entirety of Grenville's policy.

When seemingly, the French and the Spanish began to support Britain's colonial dissenters in the Americas and beyond and threatening British allies in the continent, promoting disputes and resentment from British politicians who viewed them as a violation of British sovereignty. Britain begun a process of isolation, when Britain had no allies in the continent and the allies it did have were weak or less significant in military or political might.

In disputes with Spain and France, Grenville managed to secure British objectives by deploying what was later described as

American War of Independence
without a major ally.

Dismissal

The King made various attempts to induce Pitt to come to his rescue by forming a ministry, but without success, and at last had recourse to Lord Rockingham. When Rockingham agreed to accept office, the king dismissed Grenville in July 1765. He never again held office.[15][3]

The nickname of "gentle shepherd" was given him because he bored the House by asking over and over again, during the debate on the Cider Bill of 1763, that somebody should tell him "where" to lay the new tax if it was not to be put on cider. Pitt whistled the air of the popular tune (by Boyce) Gentle Shepherd, tell me where, and the House laughed.[16] Though few surpassed him in knowledge of the forms of the House or in mastery of administrative details, he lacked tact in dealing with people and affairs.[3]

Later life: 1765-1770

In Opposition

After a period of active opposition to the

Lord George Sackville and he received support from his elder brother Lord Temple
.

In late 1768 he reconciled with Pitt and the two joined forces, re-uniting the partnership that had broken up in 1761 when Pitt had resigned from the government.

Middlesex election dispute
.

Grenville prosecuted John Wilkes and the printers and authors for treason and sedition for publishing a bitter editorial about King George III's recent speech in "The North Briton" a weekly periodical. After losing the case Grenville lost favor from the public who regarded the act as an attempt to silence or control the press.[15][19]

Advocate and critic

Although personally opposed to Wilkes, Grenville saw the government's attempt to bar him from the Commons as unconstitutional and opposed it on principle.

Following

Grafton Government's failure to intervene and he considered such weakness would encourage the French. In the House of Commons he observed "For fear of going to war, you will make a war unavoidable".[20]

In 1770 Grenville steered a bill concerning the results of contested elections, a major issue in the eighteenth century, into law – despite strong opposition from the government.[21]

Death

Grenville died on 13 November 1770, aged 58. His personal following divided after his death, with a number joining the government of

William Grenville, later served briefly as Prime Minister.[15] Grenville is buried at Wotton Underwood in Buckinghamshire[22]

George Grenville's post mortem was carried up by

Hunterian Museum. Subsequent analysis of these specimens published by the Royal College of Surgeons of England suggests that George Grenville was affected by Multiple myeloma at the time of his death.[23]

Legacy

He was one of the relatively few prime ministers (others include Henry Pelham, William Pitt the Younger, Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Bonar Law, Ramsay MacDonald, Neville Chamberlain, Sir Winston Churchill, George Canning, Spencer Perceval, William Ewart Gladstone, Edward Heath, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss) who never acceded to the peerage.

The town of Grenville, Quebec, was named after George Grenville. The town is in turn the namesake for the Grenville orogeny, a long-lived Mesoproterozoic mountain-building event associated with the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia. Its record is a prominent orogenic belt which spans a significant portion of the North American continent, from Labrador to Mexico, and extends to Scotland.

Family life

In 1749 Grenville married

Elizabeth Wyndham (1719 – 5 December 1769), daughter of Sir William Wyndham, and the granddaughter of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. Somerset did not approve of their marriage and consequently left Elizabeth only a small sum in his will.[15]

The couple had four sons and four daughters.[24] (One account states they had five daughters.)[15]

  1. Richard Grenville (died 1759), died young
  2. George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham (17 June 1753 – 11 February 1813), father of the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
  3. Charlotte Grenville (c. 1754 – 29 September 1830), married Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet (1749–1789) on 21 December 1771, and had eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood
  4. Thomas Grenville (31 December 1755 – 17 December 1846), MP and bibliophile, died unmarried
  5. Elizabeth Grenville (24 October 1756 – 21 December 1842), married (as his second wife) John Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort (1751–1828), on 12 April 1787, and had three daughters
  6. William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (25 October 1759 – 12 January 1834), later Prime Minister
  7. Catherine Grenville (1761 – 6 November 1796), married Richard Neville-Aldworth (1750–1825), afterwards Richard Griffin, 2nd Baron Braybrooke, on 19 June 1780, and had four children.
  8. Hester Grenville (before 1767 – 13 November 1847), married Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue, on 10 May 1782 and had nine children

At the time of his death in 1770, he was the heir presumptive to the Earldom of Temple held by his elder brother Richard (who had succeeded their mother in that title in 1752, but had no sons). When Richard died in 1779, George's second (but eldest surviving) son, also George, therefore succeeded as 3rd Earl Temple, and was later created Marquess of Buckingham. His male line survived until the death of the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1889.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Public Opinion and the House of Commons: John Wilkes". A History of England, by Charles M. Andrews, Professor of History in Bryn Mawr College History. Library 4 History. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  2. ^ Lawson, p. 3.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Chisholm 1911, p. 580.
  4. ^ Lawson.
  5. ^ Lawson, pp. 84–87.
  6. ^ Brown, p. 133.
  7. ^ Lawson, pp. 110–113.
  8. ^ Lawson, pp. 107–108.
  9. ^ Lawson, pp. 108–109.
  10. ^ Anderson, pp. 487–488.
  11. ^ George Grenville, Smith Rebellion 1765, Retrieved: 28 October 2010
    Sources:
    *History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent Volume V. Bancroft, George. Little, Brown and Company. Boston, Mass. 1854
    *American Leviathan: Empire, Nation and the Revolutionary Frontier. Griffin, Patrick. Hill and Wang A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. New York, NY. 2007
    * Wilkes, Liberty, and Number 45: The Colonial Williamsburg Official History Site. http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/summer03/wilkes.cfm
  12. ^ "British Reforms and Colonial Resistance, 1763-1766 | The American Revolution, 1763 - 1783 | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 19 August 2023.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  13. ^ Marjie Bloy Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow
    National University of Singapore
  14. ^ Thomas, p. 114.
  15. ^ a b c d e "George Grenville (1712–1770)". Dr. Bloy, A Web of English History. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
    Bibliography of source material:
    * Lawson, P. George Grenville: A Political Life. Oxford 1984.
    * Wiggin, L. M. The Faction of Cousins: a Political Account of the Grenvilles 1733–1763. New Haven, 1958.
  16. ^ Lawson, p. 149.
  17. ^ Johnson, p. 297.
  18. ^ Lawson, p. 273.
  19. ^ "George Grenville (1712–1770)". Britannia.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  20. ^ Thomas, p. 199.
  21. ^ Lawson, pp. 285–286.
  22. ^ GrenODNB.
  23. .
  24. .

Attribution

Bibliography

External links


Political offices
Preceded by
Henry Legge
Treasurer of the Navy
1756
Succeeded by
Preceded by Treasurer of the Navy
1756–1762
Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the House of Commons
1761–1762
Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for the Northern Department
1762
Succeeded by
Preceded by
First Lord of the Admiralty

1762–1763
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Prime Minister of Great Britain

16 April 1763 – 10 July 1765
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chancellor of the Exchequer
1763–1765
Succeeded by
William Dowdeswell
Preceded by Leader of the House of Commons
1763–1765
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Buckingham
1741–1770
With: George Chamberlayne 1741–1747
Richard Grenville 1747–1753
Temple West 1753–1754
James Grenville 1754–1768
Henry Grenville
Succeeded by