Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth

Henry Addington, the son of Lord Chatham's physician, was a childhood friend of William Pitt the Younger. He was elected to the Commons in 1784, and became Speaker in 1789. In March, 1801, Pitt was forced to resign from office due to his call for Catholic emancipation, and Addington was chosen to succeed him.

Addington's ministry was most notable for the negotiation of the Treaty of Amiens, in 1802 in which an unfavorable peace was agreed to with France. It quickly broke down, and Addington's poor management of the war led to Pitt's return to power the next year. Addington remained an important political figure, however. Created Viscount Sidmouth, he joined Pitt's Cabinet as Lord President, and later served in the Ministry of all the Talents as Lord Privy Seal and Lord President.

When the Pittites returned to power in 1807, Sidmouth returned to opposition, but returned to government as Lord President in March, 1812, and, in June of the same year, became Home Secretary. As Home Secretary, Sidmouth brutally crushed radical opposition, being responsible for the suspension of Habeas Corpus[?] in 1817, and the passage of the repressive Six Acts in 1819. Sidmouth left office in 1822, succeeded as Home Secretary by the much more competent Robert Peel, but continued to be active in politics for some time, fruitlessly opposing British recognition of the South American republics, Catholic Emancipation, and the Reform Act of 1832.

Henry Addington's Government, March 1801 - May 1804

• Henry Addington - First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Lord Eldon - Lord Chancellor
• Lord Chatham - Lord President of the Council and Master-General of the Ordnance
• Lord Westmorland - Lord Privy Seal
• The Duke of Portland - Secretary of State for the Home Department
• Lord Hawkesbury - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
• Lord Hobart - Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
• Lord St. Vincent - First Lord of the Admiralty
• Lord Auckland - President of the Board of Trade

Changes

• May, 1801 - Lord Dartmouth, the President of the Board of Control, enters the Cabinet
• July, 1801 - The Duke of Portland succeeds Lord Chatham as Lord President (Chatham remains Master of the Ordnance). Lord Pelham succeeds Portland as Home Secretary.
• July, 1802 - Lord Castlereagh succeeds Lord Dartmouth at the Board of Control.
• August, 1803 - Charles Philip Yorke succeeds Lord Pelham as Home Secretary.