Pitt, William, the Younger

Pitt, William, the Younger

William Pitt the Younger, detail of an oil painting by John Hoppner; in the National Portrait …

(credit: Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, London)

(born May 28, 1759, Hayes, Kent, Eng.—died Jan. 23, 1806, London) British statesman and prime minister (1783–1801, 1804–06). The son of William Pitt, he entered Parliament in 1781 and served as chancellor of the Exchequer (1782–83). He was appointed prime minister in 1783 and undertook reforms that reduced the large national debt incurred by the American Revolution, reduced tariffs, placed the East India Co. under government control, and restructured the government in India. Forced into conflict with France by the French Revolutionary Wars, he formed a series of coalitions with European states against France (1793, 1798, 1805). Pitt responded to demands by radicals for parliamentary reform with repressive measures. In 1800 he secured the Act of Union with Ireland but resigned in 1801 when his proposal for Catholic emancipation was denied. His second term as premier (1804–06) was marked by the collapse of the Third Coalition after the Battles of Ulm and Austerlitz, the news of which weakened his already fragile health.