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| Four of the Prime Ministers of George III Left to right: Lord Bute, Lord North,William Pitt the Younger, Lord Liverpool (2) |
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. 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.
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
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| Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne Pastel by William Hoare (c1752) © NPG 757 (1) |
Tory – 1762-1763
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| Lord Bute from The Historical and Posthumous Memoirs of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall (1884) |
Whig – 1763-1765
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| George Grenville by and published by Richard Houston after William Hoare mezzotint (c1750-75) © NPG D20047 (cropped) (1) |
Whig – 1765-1766
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| Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, after Sir Joshua Reynolds, oil on canvas, feigned oval (c1768) © NPG 406 (1) |
Whig – 1766-1768
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| William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, studio of William Hoare, oil on canvas (c1754) © NPG 1050 (1) |
Whig – 1768-1770
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| Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, by Pompeo Batoni, oil on canvas, feigned oval (1762) © NPG 4899 (1) |
Tory – 1770-1782
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| Frederick, Lord North, from The Last Journals of Horace Walpole (1910) |
Whig – 1782 (2nd term of office)
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| Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (Details as above) |
Whig – 1782-1783
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| William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, (Lord Shelburne) after Sir Joshua Reynolds oil on canvas (1766) © NPG 43 (1) |
Whig – 1783
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| William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, by William Evans after Sir Joshua Reynolds, stipple engraving pub 1811 ©NPG D31637 (Cropped & lightened) (1) |
Tory – 1783-1801
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| William Pitt the Younger from Posthumous Memoirs of his own time by N Wraxall (1836) |
Tory – 1801-1804
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| Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth by Sir William Beechey, oil on canvas engraved 1803 © NPG 5774 (1) |
Tory – 1804-1806 (2nd term of office)
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| William Pitt the Younger (details as above) |
Whig – 1806-1807
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| William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville by John Hoppner oil on canvas (c1800) © NPG 318 (1) |
Whig – 1807-1809 (2nd term of office)
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| William Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (details as above) |
Tory – 1809-1812
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| Spencer Perceval, from The Life and Administration of the Right Hon Spencer Perceval by Charles Williams (1813) |
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
Tory – 1812-1827
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| Lord Liverpool, from the European Magazine and London Review (1818) |
(1) These pictures are © National Portrait Gallery and are displayed under a Creative Commons licence.
(2) For source details of pictures in collage, see under the relevant Prime Minister above.
Sources used include:
Government website - past Prime Ministers
National Portrait Gallery website
first you write that the king had 4 prime ministers then you has he had 14 in the next sentence then you go on to list around 17 names and pictures. so which is it 4, 14 or 17?
ReplyDeleteSorry for the confusion. The picture at the top is of 4 of George III's Prime Ministers - I've changed the caption to make it clear that this is only 4 of the 14 different men who served him as Prime Minister. Three of the men served two separate terms as Prime Minister - I have listed each of the 17 terms of office separately. I hope that makes it clearer.
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