Lord Grenville

Lord Grenville (1759-1834), British prime minister (1806-07), who negotiated Jay's Treaty, an agreement resolving major differences between Britain and the United States. William Wyndham Grenville was the youngest son of George Grenville. He became a member of Parliament in 1782, and in 1782-83 he was chief secretary for Ireland. He was made speaker of the House of Commons in 1789 but resigned in the same year to become secretary of state for the home department. In 1790 he was created Baron Grenville. From 1791 to 1801 he served as secretary of state for foreign affairs during the ministry of William Pitt the Younger. In that office he negotiated Jay's Treaty. Although not always in accord with Pitt, Grenville resigned with him in protest against the refusal of George III to consent to legislation providing Roman Catholic emancipation. When offered a place in the new Pitt ministry in 1804, Grenville rejected it because his political ally, Charles James Fox, was excluded from the cabinet by the king. After Pitt's death in 1806 Grenville became prime minister in a coalition government, called the Ministry of All-the-Talents. In that capacity he secured the passage of a law abolishing the slave trade against strong opposition in the House of Lords. Unwilling to comply with the request of George III that no more measures proposing concessions to Roman Catholics be presented to Parliament, the Grenville cabinet resigned in 1807. He did not again serve in an administrative office, although he was asked to do so; he continued to hold a seat in Parliament.