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Grenville (GEORGE an English statesman)

GEORGE, an English statesman; born Oct. 14, 1712; was younger brother of Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, and brother-in-law of the Earl of Chatham. He entered Parliament in 1714, and from 1744 to 1762 filled several government offices. In 1757 he introduced a bill for the regulation of the payment of the navy. In 1762 he became Secretary of State, and then First Lord of the Admiralty; and in the following year he succeeded Lord Bute as prime minister, uniting in himself the offices of Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the Treasury. The most prominent facts of his administration were the prosecution of Wilkes and GRESHAM the passing of the American Stamp Act, which first drove the American colonies to resistance. He resigned the premiership in 1765, and died in London, England, Nov. 13, 1770.