PRIME MINISTERS
- The Earl of Shelburne to The Duke of Portland By Alijan Kirk In all honesty, when I saw the term lengths of the Prime Ministers covered last time, I was worried that the article wouldn’t be long enough. Imagine my surprise when it became my longest. I can only expect that each forthcoming article will get progressively longer too. Especially when we get to the twentieth century and I shift away from pure history and interject more politics. But that isn’t a concern for now. We’re still in the 1780s. The Marquess of Rockingham has died and he needs a successor. 48
THE EARL OF SHELBURNE With Rockingham dead, the King decided to invite the Home Secretary, William Petty, The Earl of Shelburne to form a government. Shelburne’s appointment wasn’t well received by everyone however. The Foreign Secretary, Charles James Fox and his supporters all decided to resign their posts in protest. Their resignations did allow Shelburne to appoint some younger blood to the government, including a young 23 year old called William Pitt as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Of course that name should be very familiar by now, and
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
the age clarifies that this is not the same William Pitt who became Earl of Chatham, but instead his son. Shelburne and Chatham had been close political allies while they were in Opposition to the North government. Shelburne’s main priority on taking office was to end the American War for Independence and recognise American independence. In fact, Shelburne was so in favour of American independence that he would only join the Rockingham government on the condition that the King recognised the United States. The government got to work by negotiating www.lancmag.com
