Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth,
PC (30 May 1757 – 15 February 1844) was a
British statesman, and
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from
1801 to 1804.
Henry Addington was the son of
Anthony Addington,
Pitt's physician, and Mary Addington, the daughter of the Rev.
Haviland John Hiley, headmaster of
Reading School. As a consequence of his father's position, Addington was a childhood friend of
William Pitt the Younger. Addington studied at
Winchester and
Brasenose College, Oxford, and then studied law at
Lincoln's Inn.
Political career
He was elected to the
House of Commons in 1784 as
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Devizes, and became
Speaker of the House of Commons in 1789. In March, 1801,
William Pitt, the younger resigned from office ostensibly over the refusal of King
George 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 of social unrest due to famine, and irreconsilible divisions within the Cabinet also played a role. Both Pitt and the King insisted that Addington succeed as Prime Minister, despite his own objections, and his failed attempts to reconcile the King and Pitt.
Prime minister
Addington's period as Prime Minister was most notable for his reforms that doubled the efficiency of the
Income tax and the negotiation of the
Treaty of Amiens, in 1802. While the terms of the Treaty 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, owing to 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. By early 1803, Great 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. Addington's management of the war was characterized by the cultivating of better relations with
Russia,
Austria, and
Prussia, that later culminated in the
Third Coalition shortly after he left office. Addington also strengthened Great Britain's defences against a French invasion through the building of
Martello towers on the
south coast and the raising of more than 600,000 men at arms.
Loss of office
Addington was driven from office in May 1804 by an alliance of Pitt,
Charles James Fox and
William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, who decided that they wanted Cabinet offices for themselves. 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. This combined with his mediocre speaking ability, left him vulnerable to Pitt's mastery of parliamentary management and his unparalleled oratory skills. Pitt's parliamentary assault against Addington in March 1804 led to the slimming of his parliamentary majority to the point where defeat in the House of Commons was imminent.
Lord President and Lord Privy Seal
Addington remained an important political figure, however, and the next year he was created Viscount Sidmouth. He served in Pitt's final Cabinet as
Lord President of the Council to 1806, and in the
Ministry of All the Talents as
Lord Privy Seal and again Lord President to 1807.
Home Secretary
He returned to government again as Lord President in March, 1812, and, in June of the same year, became
Home Secretary. As Home Secretary, Sidmouth brutally crushed radical opposition, being responsible for the suspension of
habeas corpus in 1817, the
Peterloo Massacre in 1819 and the passage of the repressive
Six Acts later that year. Sidmouth left office in 1822, succeeded as Home Secretary by the much more competent
Robert Peel, but remained in the Cabinet as
Minister without Portfolio for the next two years, fruitlessly opposing British recognition of the South American republics. He remained active in the
House of Lords for the next few years, making his final speech in opposition to Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and casting his final vote against the
Reform Act 1832.
Foundling Hospital
As Prime Minister, in 1802, Addington accepted an honorary position as vice president for life on the Court of Governors of London's
Foundling Hospital for abandoned babies.
Residences and land
Addington maintained a home at
Bulmershe Court, in what is now the
Reading suburb of
Woodley, but moved to the
White Lodge in
Richmond 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 (16,000 m²) of land that is today the
Royal Berkshire Hospital, and his name is commemorated in the town's
Sidmouth Street and
Addington Road.
Henry Addington's Government, March 1801 – May 1804
In
Britannia between Death and the Doctor's (1804),
James Gillray caricatured Pitt kicking Addington (at left) out of Britannia's sickroom.
- July, 1801 – The Duke of Portland succeeds Lord Chatham as Lord President (Chatham remains Master of the Ordnance). Lord Pelham succeeds Portland as Home Secretary.
Sources
- Ziegler, Philip Addington, A Life of Henry Addington, First Viscount Sidmouth (New York: The John Day Company, c1965), 478p.
- Fedorak, Charles John, Henry Addington, Prime Minister, 1801-1804: Peace, War and Parliamentary Politics (Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press, 2002), 268p.
- Leaflet Great People of Reading published by Reading Borough Libraries, undated but probably produced in late 2004 and available through Reading Central Library.
- Web page http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/haddington.html, retrieved 21:45 16 January 2005 GMT
- Web page http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/woodley_lodge.html, retrieved 21:45 16 January 2005 GMT
