William pitt prime minister biography samples

William Pitt  ©Pitt the Younger was British prime minister during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars and helped to define and strengthen the office of the prime minister.

William Pitt was born on 28 May 1759 in Kent, the son of the earl of Chatham (William Pitt the Elder), himself a famous statesman. Pitt studied at Cambridge University, graduating when he was 17.

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In early 1781, he was elected to parliament aged 21. In 1782, he became chancellor of the exchequer. The following years were marked by the battle between George III and the radical Charles Fox, whom the king detested. Matters deteriorated when Fox forged an alliance with the previously loyal Lord North.

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The two men defeated the government and George was forced to ask them to take control. Fox became Pitt's lifelong political rival.

In December 1783, George III dismissed their coalition and asked Pitt to form a government. He was, at 24, the youngest man to become prime m