First Pitt ministry

First Pitt ministry
1783–1801
Pitt by Thomas Gainsborough
Date formed	19 December 1783
Date dissolved	14 March 1801
People and organisations
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	William Pitt the Younger
Total no. of members	38 appointments
Member parties	Tory Party Whig Party (1794–1801)
Status in legislature	Minority (1783–1784) Majority (1784–1794) Majority (coalition) (1794–1801)
Opposition party	Whig Party (1783–1794) Foxites (1794–1801)
Opposition leaders	Charles James Fox[1] George Tierney[2] (1797–1801)
History
Election(s)	1784 general election 1790 general election 1796 general election
Outgoing election	1801 co-option
Legislature term(s)	15th GB Parliament lost a vote of confidence 16th GB Parliament 17th GB Parliament 18th GB Parliament 1st UK Parliament
Predecessor	Fox–North coalition
Successor	Addington ministry

William Pitt the Younger led the government of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1783 to 1801.

In 1800, the Acts of Union between Great Britain and Ireland were accepted by their respective parliaments, creating the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK), which would be governed by the former Parliament of Great Britain (now the UK Parliament). Pitt governed this new state for the first month of its existence, until differences with King George III over Catholic emancipation caused him to resign.

Cabinet

Changes

• March 1784 – The Duke of Rutland becomes Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, remaining also Lord Privy Seal.
• December 1784 – Lord Gower (Lord Stafford from 1786) succeeds Rutland as Lord Privy Seal (Rutland remains Viceroy of Ireland). Lord Camden succeeds Gower as Lord President.
• November 1787 – Lord Buckingham succeeds Rutland as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
• July 1788 – Lord Chatham, Pitt's elder brother, succeeds Lord Howe as First Lord of the Admiralty.
• June 1789 – William Grenville (Lord Grenville from 1790) succeeds Lord Sydney as Home Secretary.
• October 1789 – Lord Westmorland succeeds Buckingham as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
• June 1791 –
  • Grenville succeeds the Duke of Leeds (Lord Carmarthen before 1789) as Foreign Secretary.
  • Henry Dundas succeeds Grenville as Home Secretary.
  • Lord Hawkesbury (from 1796 Earl of Liverpool), the President of the Board of Trade, joins the Cabinet.
• June 1792 – Lord Thurlow resigns as Lord Chancellor. The Great Seal goes into commission.
• January 1793 – Lord Loughborough becomes Lord Chancellor.
• July 1794 –
  • Lord Fitzwilliam succeeds Camden as Lord President.
  • Dundas takes the new Secretaryship of State for War, while the Duke of Portland succeeds him as Home Secretary.
  • Lord Spencer succeeds Stafford as Lord Privy Seal.
  • William Windham enters the Cabinet as Secretary at War.
• December 1794 –
  • Chatham succeeds Spencer as Lord Privy Seal.
  • Spencer succeeds Chatham as First Lord of the Admiralty.
  • Fitzwilliam succeeds Westmorland as Viceroy of Ireland.
  • Lord Mansfield succeeds Fitzwilliam as Lord President.
• February 1795 – Lord Cornwallis succeeds the Duke of Richmond as Master-General of the Ordnance.
• March 1795 – Camden succeeds Fitzwilliam as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
• September 1796 – Chatham succeeds Mansfield as Lord President. Chatham remains Lord Privy Seal.
• February 1798 – Westmorland succeeds Chatham as Lord Privy Seal. Chatham remains Lord President.
• June 1798 – Cornwallis succeeds Camden as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, remaining also Master-General of the Ordnance.
• February 1801 – Grenville, Spencer, and Windham resign from the Cabinet. The first two are succeeded by Lord Hawkesbury and Lord St Vincent, while Windham's successor is not in the Cabinet.

Notes

References