Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth, (1757–1844), Conservative Prime Minister and Home
Secretary
"The country gentlemen's secretary of state" -
Addington’s description of how he would like to be remembered.
“Pitt is to Addington,
As London is to Paddington.” - Lord Canning, 1803
Son of a Reading doctor he entered Parliament in 1784, a seat found for him through the sponsorship of his school friend, William Pitt the Younger. His father had treated the elder Pitt on a number of occasions. In 1789 with Pitt’s backing, he became Speaker of the House of Commons and using the large salary he purchased Woodley House where he lived till 1801. Pitt, and even King George III were brought to Reading to be entertained in the house. As
Speaker, Addington was a great success, much to everyone’s surprise as he had seldom spoken in Parliament before being granted the office, and he restored prestige to the post. When Pitt suddenly resigned over Catholic emancipation in 1801, he backed his friend Addington as his replacement. Addington became the first Prime Minister with middle class connections, hence his opponents derisively nicknamed him “The Doctor”. At first often viewed as Pitt’s puppet, Addington
gradually established his own separate position, but he was hampered by his lack of skill in parliamentary debate. His chief success was the Treaty of Amiens (1802) with Napoleon, very popular at the time, which gave Britain peace to pursue useful military and financial reform including tax cuts, with Addington giving the first “Budget” speech. With the renewal of war in 1803, Addington’s ministry lost Pitt’s backing, and Addington’s poor oratory could not control the house so his government gradually lost parliamentary support leading him to resign in May 1804. Nevertheless Addington’s administration left Britain in a strong position for the struggle ahead in the continuing Napoleonic Wars.
Becoming Viscount Sidmouth in 1805, Addington remained influential and later served in Pitt’s new government and under Grenville 1806-7, and Spencer Perceval (1812). As Lord Liverpool’s Home Secretary (1812–22) his deep-seated conservatism and fear of bloody revolution led him to back harsh measures: the execution of Luddites, suspension of habeas corpus (1817), the Peterloo Massacre (1819), and various laws banning seditious meetings and publications. He inevitably became a hate figure for political radicals like the poet Shelley wanting democratic reform. He continued in the same reactionary style from outside government in the House of Lords opposing Catholic Emancipation and the 1832 Reform Act. Locally Addington commanded the Woodley Yeomanry Cavalry, formed in case of French invasion. He donated the land on which the Royal Berkshire Hospital was built. He also became High Steward of Reading and is commemorated in Reading by Sidmouth Street and Addington Road.
Link to the Dictionary of National Biography (only from a Library terminal).
Henry
Addington
Other External Links to more information:
Royal Berkshire History - Biography of Addington
Addington as Prime Minister
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