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Pitt the Younger & Start of the French Revolution
In 1783 William Pitt the Younger became Prime Minister. He had the full support of the King. In the autumn of 1788 the King showed the first signs of insanity. Fox had taken up with the Prince of Wales. The King was to recover the following year.
Two men were important to him Henry Dundas and William Wilberforce. A group gathered round them known as 'the Saints'. Their prime political aim was the abolition of the slave trade.
Pitt failed to abolish slavery but he did bring some sort of order to Britain's economy - he introduced the much criticized Sinking Fund. He also embarked on a policy of neutrality in European affairs.
William Wilberforce |
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE (1759-1833)- Son of a Hull merchant
- In 1776 went to Cambridge where he met Pitt the Younger
- Between 1780 and 1784 served as MP for Hull and then for Yorks
- In 1785 became an Evangelical Christian
- Involved with the Foreign Bible Society and the London Missionary Society
- Became a leading light of the Clapham Sect of Evangelicals
- From 1788, joined with Thomas Clarkson to campaign for abolition of slavery
- Buried in Westminster Abbey
Thomas Lord established his famous cricket ground in 1789.
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1765 | Rockingham becomes Prime Minister Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny
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1766 | Grafton becomes nominal Prime Minister
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1768 | Royal Academy of Arts founded
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1769 | Captain Cook lands at Tahiti
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1770 | Lord North becomes Prime Minister
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1773 | Boston Tea Party
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1775 | American Revolution begins
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1776 | American Declaration of Independence
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1778 | Death of Pitt the Elder France joins America against Britain
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1782 | North resigns Rockingham becomes Prime Minister Rockingham dies Shelburne becomes Prime Minister
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1783 | Shelburne resigns William Pitt the Younger becomes Prime Minister
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1788 | George III becomes insane
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1789 | French Revolution begins George Washington becomes 1st President of the USA
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