Grenvillite
|
Grenville Whigs
|
|
|---|---|
| Leader(s) |
2nd Earl Temple, George Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham |
| Founded | 1740s |
| Dissolved | 1817 |
| Headquarters | Buckinghamshire |
| Ideology |
Whiggism Conservatism Anti-radicalism |
| National affiliation | Whigs |
The Grenville Whigs (or Grenvillites) were a name given to several British political factions of the 18th and early-19th centuries, all associated with the important Grenville family of Buckinghamshire.
The Grenville family interest, led by Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, which dominated local politics in Buckinghamshire, was prominent in mid-18th century politics as close allies of Temple's brother-in-law, William Pitt the Elder. However, in the early-1760s, a split occurred within the family as a result of Pitt's dismissal from the government in October 1761. While Temple quit the government in protest, his younger brother, George Grenville, remained in the government, now dominated by King George III's favorite, Lord Bute, and served as Leader of the House of Commons. The followers of the younger Grenville became known as Grenvillites, or Grenville Whigs.
George Grenville fully came into his own as a politician in 1763, when he was made prime minister, but his own following was not sufficient to form a government. Grenville was forced to rely largely on the Bedford Whigs, supporters of the Duke of Bedford, to staff his ministry. After Grenville himself was ousted from power in 1765 as a result of conflicts with the King, Grenville moved into opposition, and for a time from 1766 to 1767, was the leader of one of three separate opposition factions (the other two were led by the Duke of Bedford and Lord Rockingham). After Grenville's own death in 1770, the Earl of Suffolk took over the official leadership of Grenville's faction, and negotiated Grenvillite entrance into the North ministry in early 1771, but many of Grenville's former supporters refused to follow him, remaining in opposition with Chatham and Temple.
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