The Duke of Portland [Elektronisk resurs] Politics and party in the age of George III / David Wilkinson.

• The Making of a Whig High Office Heading the Party Fragmentation and Coalition Home Secretary Whig into Tory.

• This is the first full-length biography of the Duke of Portland (1738-1809), who was twice Prime Minister (1793 and 1807-9) and Home Secretary (1738-1801). He began his career as an opposition Whig, counting Rockingham, Fox and Burke among his closest allies. Yet, by the end of his life, his allegiances had shifted dramatically. Why did Portland, once the staunchest of Whig grandees, chose to link up with so-called Tories like Canning and Castlereagh? David Wilkinson's impressive analysis carefully dismantles many popular misconceptions about political life in this period, and breaks new ground in examining Portland's career after 1794, when he joined forces with his old enemy Pitt. The Duke was responsible for public order during serious wartime shortages, and for the repression of radicalism. Portland's policies towards Ireland are also reassessed, not only in the well-known controversies over the Catholic question in 1795 and 1807, but also in the light of dramatic new evidence that reveals how the British government used illegal means to smooth the passage to the Union of 1800. 
• 'This is the first, much needed, biography of the Duke, whose political career spanned most of George III's reign and who was home secretary during the crisis of the French Revolution and twice head of the government. In his well-crafted study David Wilkinson manages successfully to portray the personality of the man as well as clarifying his political significance as statesman and party leader.' - Michael Duffy, University of Exeter, UK 'This is a carefully researched and interesting study of a man who twice headed a ministry in the course of a long career, but has been unduly neglected since. If fills convincingly a suprising gap.' - John Ehrman 'David Wilkinson's...well constructed study of the third Duke of Portland, twice prime minister during the reign of George III, fills an obvious gap in British political history...This is indeed a welcome book.' - Professor James Sack, History Department, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. 

Ämnesord

Political parties  -- History -- 18th century -- Great Britain. (LCSH)

Political parties  -- History -- 19th century -- Great Britain. (LCSH)

Prime ministers  -- Great Britain -- Biography. (LCSH)

Nobility  -- Great Britain -- Biography. (LCSH)

Politics and Government.  (eflch)

Great Britain  -- History -- George III, 1760-1820. (LCSH)

Great Britain  -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820. (LCSH)

Personnamn

Portland, William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 1738-1809.

Klassifikation

POL (ämneskategori)

941.073092 (DDC)

Ke (kssb/8 (machine generated))