Government of Great Britain
The
Kingdom of Great Britain
was governed by a
caretaker government
in April–June 1757—after
the King
's dismissal of
William Pitt
led to the collapse of the
Pitt–Devonshire ministry
amid the
Seven Years' War
.
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
, continued as the nominal head of government.
History
[
edit
]
In 1756,
King George
was reluctantly compelled to accept a ministry dominated by William Pitt as
Secretary of State
. The nominal head of this ministry, as
First Lord of the Treasury
, was the Duke of Devonshire.
On 6 April 1757,
following Pitt's opposition to the execution of Admiral
John Byng
, the King (who distrusted Pitt) dismissed him and his brother-in-law
Lord Temple
, who had been
First Lord of the Admiralty
. The result of these events was to demonstrate beyond doubt that the "Great Commoner" (as Pitt was familiarly known) was indispensable to the formation of a ministry strong enough to prosecute a major war.
Devonshire was left to lead a ministry that was manifestly far too weak to survive long—particularly in wartime. One of the major problems was that it included no figure capable of taking the lead in the
House of Commons
. The ministry also lacked the support of the most significant factions in the Commons.
Devonshire recognised that it was necessary to reconcile Pitt and his old political foe
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
, who led the strongest
Whig
faction in
Parliament
, but whose exclusion Pitt had insisted from the 1756?57 ministry.
The King (after discussions with Devonshire and Newcastle in May) authorised
Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke
, to be his emissary to negotiate for a new ministry. Hardwick pleaded with Pitt to work with Newcastle in heading "a complete, strong, and well-cemented" government, as opposed to "a
mutilated, enfeebled, half-formed
system".
The needs of the country and the lack of an obvious alternative led to the reappointment of Pitt as Secretary of State (with Newcastle as
First Lord of the Treasury
) on 27 June,
forming the
Pitt?Newcastle ministry
. Devonshire resigned the office of First Lord to take up the less demanding responsibilities of
Lord Chamberlain
.
Leading members
[
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]
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
References
[
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]
- Campbell, John
(1849), Mary Scarlett Campbell (ed.),
The Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England
, vol. 8, J. Murray (published 1869)
- Cook, Chris; Stevenson, John (1988),
British Historical Facts: 1688–1760
, Palgrave Macmillan UK,
ISBN
978-1-349-02369-1
- Foord, Archibald S. (1964),
His Majesty's Opposition 1714?1830
, Oxford University Press,
hdl
:
2027/heb.00143
,
ISBN
978-0-19-821311-6
- Haydn, Joseph
(1851),
The Book of Dignities
, London: Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans
- Peters, Marie (2009), "Pitt, William, first earl of Chatham [
known as
Pitt the elder] (1708?1778)",
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.), Oxford University Press (published 2004),
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/22337
- Van Thal, Herbert
, ed. (1974),
The Prime Ministers: From Sir Robert Walpole to Edward Heath
, New York: Stein and Day (published 1975),
ISBN
978-0-8128-1738-6