PITT, WILLIAM, THE YOUNGER

born May 28, 1759, Hayes, Kent, Eng. died January 23, 1806, London William Pitt, the Younger, detail of an oil painting by John Hoppner; in the National Portrait British prime minister (17831801, 180406) during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He had considerable influence in strengthening the office of the prime minister. Additional reading Derek Jarrett, Pitt the Younger (1974); and Robin Reilly, William Pitt the Younger (1979), are good introductory biographies. Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope, Life of the Right Honourable William Pitt, 2nd ed., 4 vol. (1862; new ed., 3 vol., 1879), is written in fine literary style and contains some important letters. A standard large-scale biography has been J. Holland Rose, William Pitt and National Revival (1911), William Pitt and the Great War (1911), and Pitt and Napoleon (1912). John Ehrman, The Younger Pitt, vol. 1 (1969), ends at 1789. A short biography is Lord Roseberry, Life of Pitt (1891, reprinted 1969). Philip W. Wilson, William Pitt, the Younger (1930), is a semi-popular short life. Donald G. Barnes, George III and William Pitt, 17831806 (1939), has long been the standard treatment of the political roles of the King and Pitt. New information and interpretations require modification of some views. Alan F. Fremantle, England in the Nineteenth Century, 2 vol. (192930), is a detailed political history. The Correspondence of George, Prince of Wales, 17701812, ed. by Arthur Aspinall, vol. 18 (196371), is useful on the parliamentary opposition.