(1712–70). English politician George Grenville served as prime minister of Great Britain from 1763 to 1765. During his tenure, his policy of taxing the American colonies started the series of events that led to the American Revolution.
Grenville was born on October 14, 1712, in London, England. He attended Eton College from 1725 to 1728 and then went to Christ Church of the University of Oxford. He entered Parliament in 1741, where he held a number of ministerial appointments. When John Stuart, the 3rd earl of Bute, resigned as prime minister in 1763, he recommended to King George III that Grenville succeed him. Grenville became prime minister in April 1763, but his ministry was unhappy and disastrous, largely because of his lack of finesse and imagination. His relationship with the king suffered from George III’s continual consultation with Bute.
As prime minister, Grenville initiated the Revenue Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765, both of which alienated the American colonies. Other notable incidents during his administration included the prosecution of British journalist and politician John Wilkes for seditious libel and the clumsy handling of the Regency Act of 1765. The act was designed to address issues of succession if the king died or was unable to rule, but it ultimately alienated George III and led to the fall of Grenville’s ministry in July 1765. Grenville remained in Parliament, where he argued for American taxation and helped to pass the Townshend Acts (1767), which renewed tension between Britain and the colonies. Grenville died on November 13, 1770, in London.
