Antique Art Print Engraving of Drawing of William Pitt The Younger circa 1700s

Antique Art Print Engraving of Drawing of William Pitt The Younger, British, 1789 (18th century).

This English wall art is unframed and measures 14.5 inches wide by 20 inches tall.

Foxing and fading consistent with age, some tears.

William Pitt the Younger (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a prominent British Tory statesman of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

He became the youngest Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1783 at the age of 24 and the first UK Prime Minister in January 1801.

He left office in March 1801, but served as Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806.

He was Chancellor of the Exchequer for all of his time as Prime Minister.

Pitt's prime ministerial tenure, which came during the reign of George III, was dominated by major events in Europe, including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.

He is known as "the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, called William Pitt the Elder or simply "Chatham", who had previously served as Prime Minister.

Pitt, although often referred to as a Tory, or "new Tory", called himself an "independent Whig" and was generally opposed to the development of a strict partisan political system.

He led Britain in the great wars against Franceand Napoleon.

Pitt was an outstanding administrator who worked for efficiency and reform, bringing in a new generation of outstanding administrators.

He increased taxes to pay for the great war against France and cracked down on radicalism.

To engage the threat of Irish support for France, he engineered the Acts of Union 1800 and tried (but failed) to get Catholic emancipation as part of the Union.

He created the "new Toryism", which revived the Tory Party and enabled it to stay in power for the next quarter-century.

The historian Asa Briggs argues that his personality did not endear itself to the British mind, for Pitt was too solitary and too colourless, and too often exuded superiority.

His greatness came in the war with France.

Pitt reacted to become what Lord Minto called "the Atlas of our reeling globe".

His integrity and industry and his role as defender of the threatened nation allowed him to inspire and access all the national reserves of strength. 

William Wilberforce said that, "For personal purity, disinterestedness and love of this country, I have never known his equal." 

Historian Charles Petrie concludes that he was one of the greatest prime ministers "if on no other ground than that he enabled the country to pass from the old order to the new without any violent upheaval ... He understood the new Britain." For this he is ranked highly amongst British Prime Ministers.

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