William Pitt the Younger
1759 – 1806 British Prime Minister of Great Britain
Britain's youngest prime minister, who led the country through most of the wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France.
- Religion
- Church of England
- Affiliations
- Tory
William Pitt the Younger became prime minister in 1783 at the age of twenty-four and dominated British politics for two decades. He built the coalitions that fought revolutionary France and Napoleon, and pushed through the union of Britain and Ireland in 1801. A supporter of abolition, he backed Wilberforce's campaign but died in 1806, a year before Parliament ended the slave trade. His war finance and repression of dissent at home shaped Britain's response to the age of revolution.
Connections
- associate of George III — His long-serving prime minister through the wars with France.
- associate of George III — The king he served as prime minister.
- associate of Horatio Nelson — His naval commander in the wars with France.
- associate of Horatio Nelson — The wartime prime minister he served.
- rival of Napoleon Bonaparte — The enemy he built coalitions to defeat.
- ally of William Wilberforce — Close friend and prime minister who supported abolition.
- ally of William Wilberforce — Close friend who backed his abolition campaign.
In the timeline
- 1707 The Acts of Union the prime minister
- 1805 The Battle of Trafalgar the wartime prime minister
- 1805 – 1806 War of the Third Coalition architect of the coalition
- 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade abolitionist prime minister who died before the act passed