The Prime Ministers of George III (1760-1820)
Top row: Duke of Newcastle, Lord Bute, Grenville, Lord Rockingham, Pitt the Elder
Middle row: Duke of Grafton, Lord North, Lord Rockingham (2nd term), Lord Shelburne, Duke of Portland, Pitt the Younger
Bottom row: Addington, Pitt the Younger (2nd term), Lord Grenville, Duke of Portland (2nd term), Perceval, Lord Liverpool 1
George III is still the longest reigning British King, ruling from 1760 to 1820. He had 14 different Prime Ministers over those 60 years—six Tories and eight Whigs.
Read about the Whigs and the Tories here.
They included two pairs of fathers and sons: William Pitt the Elder and his son William Pitt the Younger, and George Grenville and his son William Wyndham Grenville.
They also included the only British Prime Minister ever to be assassinated—Spencer Perceval. Read about Spencer Perceval’s assassination here.
Find my guides to the Prime Ministers of George IV here and William IV here.
George III's Prime Ministers
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
Whig – 1757-1762
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne Pastel by William Hoare (c1752) © NPG 757 2
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
Tory – 1762-1763
Lord Bute from The Historical and Posthumous Memoirs of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall (1884)
George Grenville
Whig – 1763-1765
George Grenville by and published by Richard Houston after William Hoare mezzotint (c1750-75) © NPG D20047 2
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
Whig – 1765-1766
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, after Sir Joshua Reynolds, oil on canvas, feigned oval (c1768) © NPG 406 2
William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham
Whig – 1766-1768
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, studio of William Hoare, oil on canvas (c1754) © NPG 1050 2
Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
Whig – 1768-1770
Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, by Pompeo Batoni, oil on canvas, feigned oval (1762) © NPG 4899 2
Frederick, Lord North, later 2nd Earl of Guildford
Tory – 1770-1782
Frederick, Lord North, from The Last Journals of Horace Walpole (1910)
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
Whig – 1782 (2nd term of office)
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (Details as above)
William Petty, Lord Shelburne, later 1st Marquess of Lansdowne
Whig – 1782-1783
William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, (Lord Shelburne) after Sir Joshua Reynolds, oil on canvas (1766) © NPG 43 2
William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
Whig – 1783
William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, by William Evans after Sir Joshua Reynolds, stipple engraving pub 1811 ©NPG D31637
William Pitt the Younger
Tory – 1783-1801
William Pitt the Younger from Posthumous Memoirs of his own time by N Wraxall (1836)
Henry Addington, later 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Tory – 1801-1804
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth by Sir William Beechey, oil on canvas engraved 1803 © NPG 5774 2
William Pitt the Younger
Tory – 1804-1806 (2nd term of office)
William Pitt the Younger (details as above)
William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville
Whig – 1806-1807
William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville by John Hoppner oil on canvas (c1800) © NPG 318 2
William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
Whig – 1807-1809 (2nd term of office)
William Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (details as above)
Spencer Perceval
Tory – 1809-1812
Spencer Perceval, from The Life and Administration of the Right Hon Spencer Perceval by Charles Williams (1813)
Read about Spencer Perceval's assassination here.
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
Tory – 1812-1827
Lord Liverpool, from the European Magazine and London Review (1818)
Rachel Knowles writes faith-based Regency romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew, who co-writes this blog.
If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage us and help us to keep making our research freely available, please buy us a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.
Notes
For source details of pictures in collage, see under the relevant Prime Minister above.
These pictures are © National Portrait Gallery and are displayed under a Creative Commons licence.
Sources used include:
