William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville

The Right Honourable The Lord Grenville PC FRS PC (Ire)


Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 11 February 1806 – 31 March 1807
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	William Pitt the Younger
Succeeded by	The Duke of Portland
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 8 June 1791 – 20 February 1801
Prime Minister	William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by	Marquess of Camarthen
Succeeded by	The Lord Hawkesbury
Home Secretary
In office 5 June 1789 – 8 June 1791
Prime Minister	William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by	The Lord Sydney
Succeeded by	Henry Dundas

Personal details
Born	(1759-10-25)25 October 1759 Wotton Underwood, Buckinghamshire, England
Died	12 January 1834(1834-01-12) (aged 74) Burnham, Buckinghamshire, England
Political party	Pittite Tory (until 1801) Whig (from c. 1801)
Spouse(s)	Anne Pitt (m. 1792)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Signature

William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, PC, FRS, PC (Ire) (25 October 1759 – 12 January 1834) was a British Whig statesman. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807 as head of the Ministry of All the Talents.

Background

Grenville was the son of Whig Prime Minister George Grenville. His mother Elizabeth was daughter of the Tory statesman Sir William Wyndham Bart. He had two elder brothers Thomas and George - he was thus uncle to the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.

He was also related to the Pitt family by marriage; William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham had married his father's sister Hester, and thus the younger Grenville was the first cousin of William Pitt the Younger.

Grenville was educated at Eton, Christ Church, Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn.^[1]

Political career

Grenville entered the House of Commons in 1782. He soon became a close ally of the Prime Minister, his cousin William Pitt the Younger, and served in the government as Paymaster of the Forces from 1784 to 1789. In 1789 he served briefly as Speaker of the House of Commons before he entered the cabinet as Home Secretary. He became Leader of the House of Lords when he was raised to the peerage the next year as Baron Grenville, of Wotton under Bernewood in the County of Buckingham.^[2] The next year, in 1791, he succeeded the Duke of Leeds as Foreign Secretary. Grenville's decade as Foreign Secretary was a dramatic one, seeing the Wars of the French Revolution. During the war, Grenville was the leader of the party that focused on the fighting on the continent as the key to victory, opposing the faction of Henry Dundas which favoured war at sea and in the colonies. Grenville left office with Pitt in 1801 over the issue of Catholic Emancipation. He did part-time military service at home as Major in the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry cavalry in 1794 and as Lieutenant-Colonel in the South Buckinghamshire volunteer regiment in 1806.^[3]

In his years out of office, Grenville became close to the opposition Whig leader Charles James Fox, and when Pitt returned to office in 1804, Grenville did not take part. Following Pitt's death in 1806, Grenville became the head of the "Ministry of All the Talents", a coalition between Grenville's supporters, the Foxite Whigs, and the supporters of former Prime Minister Lord Sidmouth, with Grenville as First Lord of the Treasury and Fox as Foreign Secretary as joint leaders. Grenville's cousin William Windham served as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, and his younger brother, Thomas Grenville, served briefly as First Lord of the Admiralty. The Ministry ultimately accomplished little, failing either to make peace with France or to accomplish Catholic emancipation (the later attempt resulting in the ministry's dismissal in March, 1807). It did have one significant achievement, however, in the abolition of the slave trade in 1807.

In the years after the fall of the ministry, Grenville continued in opposition, maintaining his alliance with Lord Grey and the Whigs, criticising the Peninsular War and, with Grey, refusing to join Lord Liverpool's government in 1812. In the post-war years, Grenville gradually moved back closer to the Tories, but never again returned to the cabinet. His political career was ended by a stroke in 1823. Grenville also served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1810 until his death in 1834.

Dropmore House

A caricature of Saartjie Baartman, Lord Grenville, and Richard Sheridan by William Heath

Dropmore House was built in the 1790s for Lord Grenville. The architects were Samuel Wyatt and Charles Tatham. Grenville knew the spot from rambles during his time at Eton College, and prized its distant views of his old school and of Windsor Castle. On his first day in occupation, he planted two cedar trees. At least another 2,500 trees were planted. By the time Grenville died, his pinetum contained the biggest collection of conifer species in Britain. Part of the post-millennium restoration is to use what survives as the basis for a collection of some 200 species.^[4]

Personal life

Lord Grenville married the Honourable Anne, daughter of Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford, in 1792. The marriage was childless. He died in January 1834, aged 74, when the barony became extinct. Lady Grenville died in June 1863.^[1]

Ministry of All the Talents

Changes

September, 1806 - On Fox's death, Lord Howick succeeds him as Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons. Thomas Grenville succeeds Howick at the Admiralty. Lord Fitzwilliam becomes Minister without Portfolio, and Lord Sidmouth succeeds him as Lord President. Lord Holland succeeds Sidmouth as Lord Privy Seal.

Footnotes

1 2 "William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville". Thepeerage.com. 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
↑ London Gazette no. 13259. p. 710
↑ History of Parliament article by David R. Fisher.
↑ "Abolitionist's house escapes ruin". BBC news. 1 April 2007. Retrieved 2009-02-06.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville.

More about William Wyndam Grenville, Lord Grenville on the Downing Street website.

Political offices
Preceded by Hon. Richard FitzPatrick	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1782–1783	Succeeded by William Windham
Preceded by Edmund Burke	Paymaster of the Forces 1784–1789	Succeeded by The Lord Mulgrave The Marquess of Graham
New office	Vice-President of the Board of Trade 1786–1789	Succeeded by The Marquess of Graham
Preceded by Charles Wolfran Cornwall	Speaker of the House of Commons 1789	Succeeded by Henry Addington
Preceded by The Lord Sydney	Home Secretary 1789–1791	Succeeded by Henry Dundas
Preceded by The Lord Sydney	President of the Board of Control 1790–1793	Succeeded by Henry Dundas
Preceded by The Duke of Leeds	Leader of the House of Lords 1790–1801	Succeeded by Lord Hobart
Preceded by The Duke of Leeds	Foreign Secretary 1791–1801	Succeeded by Lord Hawkesbury
Preceded by The Duke of Newcastle	Auditor of the Exchequer 1794–1834	Succeeded by The Lord Auckland
Preceded by Hon. William Pitt the Younger	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 11 February 1806 – 31 March 1807	Succeeded by The Duke of Portland
Preceded by Lord Hawkesbury	Leader of the House of Lords 1806–1807	Succeeded by Lord Hawkesbury
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by James Grenville Richard Aldworth-Neville	Member of Parliament for Buckingham 1782–1784 With: James Grenville	Succeeded by James Grenville Charles Edmund Nugent
Preceded by The Earl Verney Thomas Grenville	Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire 1784–1790 With: Sir John Aubrey 1784–1790 The Earl Verney 1790	Succeeded by The Earl Verney James Grenville
Academic offices
Preceded by The Duke of Portland	Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1809–1834	Succeeded by The Duke of Wellington
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation	Baron Grenville 1790–1834	Extinct

William Grenville navigational boxes

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
Kingdom of Great Britain	Walpole Wilmington Pelham Newcastle Devonshire Newcastle Bute G. Grenville Rockingham Chatham (Pitt the Elder) Grafton North Rockingham Shelburne Portland Pitt the Younger
United Kingdom	Pitt the Younger Addington Pitt the Younger Ld. Grenville Portland Perceval Liverpool Canning Goderich Wellington Grey Melbourne Wellington Peel Melbourne Peel Russell Derby Aberdeen Palmerston Derby Palmerston Russell Derby Disraeli Gladstone Beaconsfield (Disraeli) Gladstone Salisbury Gladstone Salisbury Gladstone Rosebery Salisbury Balfour Campbell-Bannerman Asquith Lloyd George Law Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin Chamberlain Churchill Attlee Churchill Eden Macmillan Douglas-Home Wilson Heath Wilson Callaghan Thatcher Major Blair Brown Cameron May
Book Category Commons

Leaders of the Opposition of the United Kingdom

House of Commons

House of Lords

Home Secretaries of the United Kingdom
Secretary of State for the Home Department	Shelburne Townshend North Temple Sydney Grenville Dundas Portland Pelham Yorke Hawkesbury Spencer Liverpool Ryder Sidmouth Peel Sturges Bourne Lansdowne Peel Melbourne Duncannon Wellington Goulburn Russell Normanby Graham Grey Walpole Palmerston Grey Walpole Sotheron-Estcourt Lewis Grey Walpole Hardy Bruce Lowe Cross Harcourt Cross Childers Matthews Asquith Ridley Ritchie Akers-Douglas Gladstone Churchill McKenna Simon Samuel Cave Shortt Bridgeman Henderson Joynson-Hicks Clynes Samuel Gilmour Simon Hoare Anderson Morrison Somervell Chuter Ede Maxwell-Fyfe Lloyd George Butler Brooke Soskice Jenkins Callaghan Maudling Carr Jenkins Rees Whitelaw Brittan Hurd Waddington Baker K. Clarke Howard Straw Blunkett C. Clarke Reid Smith Johnson May Rudd

Foreign Secretaries of the United Kingdom
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	Fox Grantham Fox Temple Leeds Grenville Hawkesbury Harrowby Mulgrave Fox Howick Canning Bathurst Wellesley Castlereagh Canning Dudley Aberdeen Palmerston Wellington Palmerston Aberdeen Palmerston Granville Malmesbury Russell Clarendon Malmesbury Russell Clarendon Stanley Clarendon Granville Derby Salisbury Granville Salisbury Rosebery Iddesleigh Salisbury Rosebery Kimberley Salisbury Lansdowne Grey Balfour Curzon MacDonald Chamberlain Henderson Reading Simon Hoare Eden Halifax Eden Bevin Morrison Eden Macmillan Lloyd Home Butler Gordon Walker Stewart Brown Stewart
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs	Stewart Douglas-Home Callaghan Crosland Owen Carrington Pym Howe Major Hurd Rifkind Cook Straw Beckett Miliband Hague Hammond Johnson
Book:Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Category:British Secretaries of State Portal:United Kingdom

Speakers of the House of Commons

House of Commons
of England

14th century	Hungerford De la Mare Pickering Guildesborough Waldegrave Pickering Bussy Cheney Doreward Savage Redford Savage
15th century	Esturmy Tiptoft Chaucer Stourton Doreward Hungerford Chaucer Redman Beauchamp Flower Hunt Chaucer Baynard Flower Russell Walton Vernon Tyrell Alington, Sr. Tyrell Russell Hunt Bowes Tyrell Burley W. Tresham Burley W. Tresham Say Popham I W. Tresham Oldhall Thorpe Charlton Wenlock T. Tresham Green Strangeways Say Alington Jr. Wood Catesby Lovell Mordaunt Fitzwilliam Empson Drury Englefield
16th century	Dudley Englefield Sheffield Nevill More Audley Wingfield Rich Hare Moyle Baker Dyer Pollard Broke Higham Cordell Gargrave T. Williams Onslow Wray Bell Popham II Puckering Snagge Coke Yelverton
17th century	Croke Phelips R. Crewe Richardson T. Crewe H. Finch J. Finch Glanville Lenthall Pelham Lenthall Rous (Barebones Parliament) Lenthall Widdrington (2nd Protectorate Parliament) Chute, Long & Bampfield (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Lenthall Grimston Turnour Charlton Seymour Sawyer Seymour Gregory W. Williams Trevor Powle Trevor Foley Littleton
18th century	Harley Smith

House of Commons
of Great Britain

18th century	Smith R. Onslow Bromley Hanmer Compton A. Onslow Cust Norton Cornwall Grenville Addington

House of Commons
of the United Kingdom

19th century	Addington Mitford Abbot Manners-Sutton Abercromby Shaw-Lefevre Denison Brand Peel Gully
20th century	Lowther Whitley FitzRoy Brown Morrison Hylton-Foster King Lloyd Thomas Weatherill Boothroyd
21st century	Martin Bercow

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