William Pitt, 1759-1806 Second son of William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham. Matriculated at Cambridge at the age of fourteen; M.A. 1776; called to the Bar 1780. M.P. for Appleby 1781. On the death of Rockingham in 1782. Pitt became Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Shelbourne's Administration, and in December 1783, before he was twenty five, he became Prime Minister. He commenced the work of the next Session in a minority of thirty-nine, but by skill and determination increased his following, and after the General Election of 1784, had a large majority and sat for Cambridge and kept his seat for life. By 1793 he had reduced the National Debt by ten and a half millions. Warden of Cinque Ports 1792. War was declared by France in 1793, and between March and October Pitt had made alliances against her with Russia, Sardinia, Spain, Naples, Prussia, Austria, Austria, Portugal, and some German States, and granted subsides of ?32,000 for the hire of foreign troops. He adopted a similar policy after the Battle of the Nile. In 1797 his Budget showed a deficiency of twenty-two millions, and in 1798 he instituted the income tax, to meet the expenses of the War. In 1800 he obtained the union of Ireland with England; but being unable, through the opposition of the King; to redeem his pledges with regard to Catholic Emancipation, he retired, and was succeeded by Addington. In 1803, at Walmer (his residence as Warden of the Cinque Ports), he organised and reviewed a large body of volunteers. Shortly after the resumption of the war, he returned to office (May 1804) as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and set about a fresh coalation against France. The mingled joy and sorrow of Trafalgar broke down his health, and the news of Austerlitz gave him his death blow. He was accorded a public funeral at Westminister Abbey. His career was. therefore, almost conterminous with that of Nelson.