31 Facts About George Grenville

George Grenville was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain.

George Grenville emerged as one of Cobham's Cubs, a group of young members of Parliament associated with Lord Cobham.

In 1754 George Grenville became Treasurer of the Navy, a position he held twice until 1761.

George Grenville was made Northern Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty by the new Prime Minister Lord Bute.

George Grenville's government tried to bring public spending under control and pursued an assertive foreign policy.

George Grenville had increasingly strained relations with his colleagues and the King.

George Grenville was the second son of Richard Grenville and Hester Temple.

George Grenville was one of five brothers, all of whom became MPs.

George Grenville was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the bar in 1735.

George Grenville entered Parliament in 1741 as one of the two members for Buckingham, and continued to represent that borough for the next twenty-nine years until his death.

George Grenville was disappointed to be giving up what appeared to be a promising legal career for the uncertainties of opposition politics.

George Grenville allied himself with his brother Richard and with William Pitt in forcing Pelham to give them promotion by rebelling against his authority and obstructing business.

In 1754 George Grenville was made Treasurer of the Navy and Privy Councillor.

George Grenville was returned to his position as Treasurer of the Navy, which was a great disappointment as he had been expecting to receive the more prestigious and lucrative post of Paymaster of the Forces.

George Grenville remained in office during the years of British victories, notably the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 for which the credit went to the government of which he was a member.

However his seven-year-old son died after a long illness and George Grenville remained by his side at their country house in Wotton and rarely came to London.

George Grenville's role was seen as an attempt to keep someone closely associated with Pitt involved in the government, in order to prevent Pitt and his supporters actively opposing the government.

George Grenville was seen as a suitable candidate because his reputation for honesty meant he commanded loyalty and respect amongst independent MPs.

George Grenville demanded much greater compensation in exchange for the return of British conquests, while Bute favored a more generous position which eventually formed the basis of the Treaty of Paris.

In spite of this, George Grenville had now become associated with Bute rather than his former political allies who were even more vocal in their opposition to the peace treaty than he was.

George Grenville was continually refused admission to parliament by parliament, and proved a problem to several successive governments.

George Grenville had to deal with the fall-out from Pontiac's Rebellion, which erupted in North America in 1763.

In disputes with Spain and France, George Grenville managed to secure British objectives by deploying what was later described as gunboat diplomacy.

George Grenville was able to oversee the re-election of his core group of supporters in the 1768 General Election.

George Grenville's followers included Robert Clive and Lord George Sackville and he received support from his elder brother Lord Temple.

George Grenville was successful in mobilising the opposition during the Middlesex election dispute.

George Grenville was critical of the Grafton Government's failure to intervene and he considered such weakness would encourage the French.

George Grenville's personal following divided after his death, with a number joining the government of Lord North.

Subsequent analysis of these specimens published by the Royal College of Surgeons of England suggests that George Grenville was affected by Multiple myeloma at the time of his death.

George Grenville was one of the relatively few prime ministers who never acceded to the peerage.

In 1749 George Grenville married Elizabeth Wyndham, daughter of Sir William Wyndham, and the granddaughter of the Duke of Somerset.