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Y110: From Pitt to Peel 1783–1853

Pitt the Younger: royal support, the 1784 election and early reforms

  • 2 things to know
  • Unit group 1

Overview

Recall questions on how George III brought Pitt into office, the 1784 election, the Sinking Fund and Consolidated Fund, the Commutation Act, more efficient government and the India Act of 1784.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What was meant by calling Pitt's first government the 'mince-pie administration'?

Evaluation

What was the effect of the Consolidated Fund of 1787?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did George III put Pitt the Younger into office in December 1783?

    Model answer

    The King let it be known that any peer voting for Fox's India Bill would be counted his enemy, so the Lords threw the bill out; he then dismissed the Fox–North Coalition and invited Pitt, aged only twenty-four, to form a ministry.

  2. 2

    What was meant by calling Pitt's first government the 'mince-pie administration'?

    Model answer

    Opponents expected it to be swept away before Christmas was over, since Pitt began without a Commons majority and lost division after division.

  3. 3

    What did the general election of 1784 do for Pitt?

    Model answer

    It converted his minority into a comfortable majority, with almost 100 of Fox's supporters losing their seats — the men mocked as 'Fox's Martyrs'.

  4. 4

    What was the Sinking Fund of 1786 designed to do?

    Model answer

    A million pounds a year was set aside under independent commissioners to buy up government stock, so that accumulating interest would steadily reduce the National Debt.

  5. 5

    What was the effect of the Consolidated Fund of 1787?

    Model answer

    More than a hundred separate customs and excise accounts were merged into a single fund, which simplified collection, narrowed the scope for fraud and made the national accounts far easier to audit.

  6. 6

    The Commutation Act of 1784 cut the duty on tea from about 119 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Explain why this raised revenue rather than losing it.

    Model answer

    Smuggling ceased to be worth the risk, so legal imports and sales rose sharply, and the Treasury collected a small duty on a far greater volume of tea than it had ever taxed before.

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