William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville — Not Quite ‘All the Talents’

Abstract

Only two men in British history have had the distinction of following their own fathers in the top office. One was William Pitt; the other, his first cousin, William Grenville. Like Henry Addington’s, William Grenville’s career was largely shaped by his relationship with Pitt, his almost exact contemporary. Yet Grenville was a more independent character, and was never so much in awe of Pitt, even though he became his closest associate and a leading ministerial colleague throughout most of Pitt’s long first premiership. Thereafter, the two men drifted apart, and Grenville largely transferred his loyalty to Pitt’s great rival, Charles James Fox.