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The Viscount Sidmouth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 17 March 1801 – 10 May 1804 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | George III | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | William Pitt the Younger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | William Pitt the Younger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom[a] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 January 1801 – 10 February 1801 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | George III | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | William Pitt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sir John Mitford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speaker of the House of Commons of Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 8 June 1789 – 31 January 1800 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | George III | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | William Pitt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | William Grenville | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Office abolished | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament forDevizes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1784 – 12 January 1805 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Henry Jones | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Thomas Grimston Estcourt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1757-05-30)30 May 1757 Bedford Row,Middlesex, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 15 February 1844(1844-02-15) (aged 86) White Lodge,Surrey, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Resting place | St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Tory (Addingtonian) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 8 (by Hammond) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parents |
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| Education | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Brasenose College, Oxford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cabinet | § Cabinet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (30 May 1757 – 15 February 1844) was a BritishTory statesman who served asprime minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804 and asSpeaker of the House of Commons from 1789 to 1801.
Addington is best known for obtaining theTreaty of Amiens in 1802, an unfavourable peace withNapoleonic France which marked the end of theSecond Coalition during theFrench Revolutionary Wars. When that treaty broke down, Addington resumed the war without allies. He conducted relatively weak defensive hostilities, ahead of what would become theWar of the Third Coalition. He was forced from office in favour ofWilliam Pitt the Younger, who had preceded Addington as prime minister. Addington is also known for hisreactionary crackdown on advocates ofdemocratic reforms during a ten-year spell asHome Secretary from 1812 to 1822. He is the longest continuously serving holder of that office since it was created in 1782.
Henry Addington was the son ofAnthony Addington,Pitt the Elder's physician; and Mary Addington, the daughter of the Rev. Haviland John Hiley, headmaster ofReading School. As a consequence of his father's position, Addington was a childhood friend ofWilliam Pitt the Younger. Addington studied atReading School,Winchester, andBrasenose College, Oxford, and then studied law atLincoln's Inn.
He marriedUrsula Mary Hammond in 1791; she brought an income of £1,000 a year into the marriage. The couple had eight children, of whom six survived to adulthood. Ursula Addington died in 1823. Afterwards, he married a widow, Marianne Townsend, daughter ofWilliam Scott, 1st Baron Stowell.[1]
He was elected to theHouse of Commons in 1784 as one of the Members of Parliament forDevizes, and becameSpeaker of the House of Commons in 1789. In March 1801,William Pitt the Younger resigned from office, ostensibly over the refusal of KingGeorge III to remove some of the existing political restrictions on Roman Catholics in Ireland (Catholic Emancipation), but poor health, failure in war, economic collapse, alarming levels ofsocial unrest due tofamine, and irreconcilable divisions within the Cabinet also played a role. Both Pitt and the King insisted that Addington take over as prime minister, despite his own objections, and his failed attempts to reconcile the King and Pitt.[citation needed]
Foreign policy was the centrepiece of his term in office. Some historians have been highly critical and said that it was ignorant and indifferent to Britain's greatest needs. However, Thomas Goldsmith argues that Addington and Hawkesbury conducted a logical, consistent andeurocentricbalance-of-power policy, rooted in rules and assumptions governing their conduct, rather than a chaotic free-for-all approach.[2]
Addington's domestic reforms doubled the efficiency of theincome tax. In foreign affairs, he secured theTreaty of Amiens in 1802. While the treaty's terms were the bare minimum that the British government could accept,Napoleon Bonaparte would not have agreed to any terms more favourable to the British, and the British government had reached a state of financial collapse from war expenditure, the loss of Continental markets for British goods and two successive failed harvests that had led to widespread famine and social unrest, rendering peace a necessity.[citation needed]
By early 1803, Britain's financial and diplomatic positions had recovered sufficiently to allow Addington to declare war on France, when it became clear that the French would not allow a settlement for the defences of Malta that would have been secure enough to fend off a French invasion that appeared imminent.[citation needed]
At the time and ever since, Addington has been criticised for his lacklustre conduct of the war and his defensive posture. However, without allies, Britain's options were limited to defence. He increased the forces, provided a tax base that could finance an enlarged war and seized several French possessions. To gain allies, Addington cultivated better relations with theRussian Empire,[3] theAustrian Empire, and theKingdom of Prussia. These relations culminated in theThird Coalition shortly after Addington left office. Addington also strengthened British defences against a French invasion through the building ofMartello towers on thesouth coast and the raising of more than 600,000 men at arms.[4]
In 1802, Addington accepted an honorary position as vice-president for life on the Court of Governors of London'sFoundling Hospital for abandoned babies.
Although the King stood by him, it was not enough, because Addington did not have a strong enough hold on both Houses of Parliament. By May 1804, partisan criticism of Addington's war policies provided the pretext for a parliamentary putsch by the three major factions (Grenvillites,Foxites, and Pittites), who had decided that they should replace Addington's ministry. Addington's greatest failing was his inability to manage a parliamentary majority by cultivating the loyal support of MPs beyond his own circle and the friends of the King. That, combined with his mediocre speaking ability, left him vulnerable to Pitt's mastery of parliamentary management and his unparallelled oratory skills. Pitt's parliamentary assault against Addington in March 1804 led to the slimming of his parliamentary majority to the point that defeat in the House of Commons was imminent.[5]
Addington remained an important political figure because he had gained a large following of MPs who supported him loyally in the Commons. He was reconciled with Pitt in December 1804, with the help ofLord Hawkesbury as an intermediary. As a result, Pitt arranged for him to join the Cabinet asLord President of the Council in January 1805. Pitt insisted for Addington to accept apeerage to avoid the inconvenience of them sitting together in the Commons. Addington was createdViscount Sidmouth, ofSidmouth in theCounty of Devon on 12 January 1805.[6]
In return for the support of the government by Addington's loyal supporters, Pitt agreed to includeRobert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire, Addington's colleague, asChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with a promise to elevate him to the first vacancy of a more senior position in the Cabinet. However, whenMelville resigned asFirst Lord of the Admiralty in July 1805, Pitt broke his promise by havingSir Charles Middleton appointed instead of Buckinghamshire. As a result of the betrayal, Addington and Buckinghamshire resigned and took all of their supporters into opposition. Addington was appointedLord Privy Seal in 1806 in theMinistry of All the Talents that succeeded Pitt. Later that year he returned to the position of Lord President to 1807. His resignation precipitated the fall of the Talents Ministry. Addington was opposed to a limited measure of Catholic Emancipation, which the Cabinet was considering despite the opposition ofKing George III.[citation needed]
He returned to government again as Lord President in March 1812, and, in June of the same year, becameHome Secretary. As Home Secretary, Addington countered revolutionary opposition, being responsible for the temporarysuspension ofhabeas corpus in 1817 and the passage of theSix Acts in 1819. His tenure also saw thePeterloo Massacre of 1819. He left office in 1822, succeeded as Home Secretary by SirRobert Peel.
Addington remained in the Cabinet asMinister without Portfolio for the next two years, opposing, along withArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, other members of Cabinet, andKing George IV, British recognition of the South American republics. He remained active in theHouse of Lords for the next few years, making his final speech in opposition to Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and casting his final vote against theReform Act 1832.
Addington maintained homes atUpottery, Devon andBulmershe Court, in what is now theReading suburb ofWoodley, but moved to theWhite Lodge inRichmond Park when he became prime minister. However, he maintained links with Woodley and the Reading area as commander of the Woodley Yeomanry Cavalry and High Steward of Reading. He also donated to the town of Reading the four acres (1.6 ha) of land that is today the site of theRoyal Berkshire Hospital, and his name is commemorated in the town's Sidmouth Street and Addington Road as well as in Sidmouth Street in Devizes and Addington Special School in Woodley, Reading.[citation needed] In Devizes he paid for the newMarket Cross, designed byJames Wyatt, that was constructed in 1814.[7]
As Speaker of the House of Commons, from 1795 he had a residence in thePalace of Westminster, to the north-east of the House of Commons.[8]
Addington died in London on 15 February 1844 at the age of 86, frominfluenza, and was buried in the churchyard atSt Mary the Virgin, Mortlake onMortlake High Street, now in Greater London.[9]
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| Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (head of ministry) | 17 March 1801 (1801-03-17) | 10 May 1804 (1804-05-10) | Tory | ||
| Lord Chancellor | Continued | 14 April 1801 (1801-04-14) | Independent | ||
| 14 April 1801 (1801-04-14) | Continued | Tory | |||
| Lord President of the Council | Continued | 30 July 1801 (1801-07-30) | Independent | ||
| 30 July 1801 (1801-07-30) | Continued | Tory | |||
| Lord Privy Seal | Continued | Continued | Tory | ||
| Secretary of State for the Home Department | Continued | 30 July 1801 (1801-07-30) | Tory | ||
| 30 July 1801 (1801-07-30) | 17 August 1803 (1803-08-17) | Tory | |||
| 17 August 1803 (1803-08-17) | 12 May 1804 (1804-05-12) | Tory | |||
| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | Continued | 14 May 1804 (1804-05-14) | Tory | ||
| Secretary of State for War and the Colonies | 17 March 1801 (1801-03-17) | 12 May 1804 (1804-05-12) | Tory | ||
| First Lord of the Admiralty | Continued | 1804 (1804) | Whig | ||
| Master-General of the Ordnance | June 1801 (1801-06) | Continued | Independent | ||
| President of the Board of Trade | Continued | 7 June 1804 (1804-06-07) | Independent | ||
| President of the Board of Control | May 1801 (1801-05) | July 1802 (1802-07) | Tory | ||
| July 1802 (1802-07) | Continued | Tory | |||
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