Background
William Wyndham Grenville was born on the 25th of October 1759 in Wotton Underwood. The third son of George Grenville. He had two elder brothers Thomas and George - he was thus uncle to the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.
William Wyndham Grenville was born on the 25th of October 1759 in Wotton Underwood. The third son of George Grenville. He had two elder brothers Thomas and George - he was thus uncle to the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.
William Wyndham Grenville was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he became a distinguished classical scholar.
Grenville entered the House of Commons in 1782. Shelburne appointed him chief secretary in Ireland in 1782 and under Pitt he was paymaster of the forces 1783–9, an office he held together with membership of the India Board of Control and of the Board of Trade after 1784.
By this time he was recognized as Pitt's ‘second in command’ and in 1790 was elevated to the Lords to oversee the government's business there.
He was translated to the foreign secretaryship in 1791 and for ten years was responsible for British policy in the French Revolutionary War.
Grenville found the post uncongenial and his successes were few.
In 1801 he resigned with Pitt over the king's refusal to grant catholic relief, but unlike Pitt he determined not to take office again unless the king withdrew his veto.
Accordingly he did not return with Pitt in 1804 but formed an alliance with the Foxite Whigs, with whom he served in the ‘Ministry of all the Talents’ in 1806–7.
As prime minister, Grenville achieved little beyond the abolition of the slave trade.
The government collapsed when George III thwarted their attempt to smuggle concessions to the Irish catholics past his protestant conscience.
For the next ten years Grenville and Grey, Fox's successor, led the opposition to Portland, Perceval, and Liverpool but neither found the position agreeable.
The alliance ended in 1817 when they disagreed over the government's suspension of habeas corpus to deal with radical agitation.
In the post-war years, Grenville gradually moved back closer to the Tories, but never again returned to the cabinet. His political career was ended by a stroke in 1823. Grenville also served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1810 until his death in 1834.
Lord Grenville was married to the Honourable Anne, daughter of Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford, in 1792. The marriage was childless.