William Pitt

author

William Pitt

1759–1806

A brilliant and driven statesman, he became Britain’s youngest prime minister and led the country through years of war and political upheaval. His career helped shape the modern office of prime minister and left a lasting mark on British government.

1 Audiobook

Speech of the Right Honourable William Pitt, in the House of Commons, Thursday, January 31, 1799 On offering to the House the resolutions which he proposed as the basis of an union between Great Britain and Ireland: Fifth Edition.

Speech of the Right Honourable William Pitt, in the House of Commons, Thursday, January 31, 1799 On offering to the House the resolutions which he proposed as the basis of an union between Great Britain and Ireland: Fifth Edition.

by William Pitt

About the author

Born on May 28, 1759, William Pitt the Younger was the son of the Earl of Chatham, another famous British statesman. He entered Parliament at a young age and, in 1783, became prime minister at just 24 years old, making him the youngest person ever to hold the office in Britain.

He served as prime minister from 1783 to 1801 and again from 1804 until his death in 1806. During those years, he worked to strengthen public finance, reform government administration, and guide Britain through the upheaval of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He was also closely connected with the political changes that led to the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.

Pitt is remembered as one of the defining political figures of late eighteenth-century Britain: serious, capable, and remarkably influential while still very young. For readers today, he stands out as both a gifted parliamentary speaker and a central architect of British wartime leadership in a turbulent age.