Pitt the Younger

Aged 24 when he took office, William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) was the youngest prime minister in British history and served in that position longer than anyone except Robert Walpole. As Turner (British Politics in the Age of Reform) stresses, Pitt inherited a legacy of political leadership. His father, William Pitt the Elder, was Britain's leader during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). Turner depicts a young man who, like his father, fashioned himself as a selfless patriot devoted to the public good. Named prime minister in 1783 by King George III, Pitt moved immediately to reform the British government, making it more efficient and less prone to corruption. Turner emphasizes that Pitt was foremost a pragmatist, not an idealist--when Pitt saw that more radical reforms, such as electoral reform and abolition of the slave trade, met with strong opposition, he blithely moved on to other issues. When the French Revolution triggered an increase in revolutionary fervor in Britain, Pitt put reform on hold and firmly repressed domestic radicalism. Turner strongly defends Pitt against the charge (made by both contemporary opponents and later by historians) that he organized an unconstitutional""reign of terror"" against British radicals. Pitt's""security measures"" were both limited and constitutional, Turner argues. He offers a straightforward, workmanlike, if at times colorless, account of how Pitt gained, and then used, political power. As Turner makes abundantly clear, Pitt had virtually no private life; he never married and had few social attachments. Thus, Pitt never quite comes across as a three-dimensional human being.