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The Reign of George III (1760 – 1820)
 George III was twelve when his father died leaving him heir to the British throne. George III was troubled by periods of insanity, rendering him unfit to rule England. There were several occasions when Parliament considered replacing him with his son, George, only to have the king recover before the deed was done. George chose poorly, opting for the Earl of Bute to become his first Chief Minister. Bute was ineffective and isolated George from other senior ministers. Effective government became incredibly difficult. Whilst Bute resigned in 1763, instability and financial difficulties did nothing to increase George’s popularity.
By 1770 George had learnt well and appointed Lord North as his Chief Minister. North’s expertise produced twelve years of stable government, the only contradiction to this being the Americas. The reign of George III saw the following overseas action:-
- the loss of the American colonies, in the American revolution (1775 – 83.) George and North were both accused of corruption and this led to North’s resignation in 1782. His subsequent appointment to ally with the liberal Whig Charles James Fox prompted George to consider abdication.
- 1799 Vinegar Hill Rebellion on behalf of Irish autonomy. The Irish were defeated but two years later Ireland was unified with Great Britain to form the United Kingdom
- Napoleonic Wars (1793 – 1815) with France. England enjoyed victory at The Battle of the Nile (1798) and Trafalgar (1805) when Nelson died in action. On terra firma, the Duke Of Wellington pushed Napoleon out of the Iberian Peninsula and defeated him at Waterloo, Belgium.
Whilst back at home:
- Luddite Protests as automation and new machinery threw manual labourers out of work. Luddites, named after their imaginary leader, Ned Ludd, broke into factories and smashed machinery to try, without success, to protect their jobs
- The Industrial Revolution saw masses flocking into the towns and cities to become the workers of The Industrial Revolution.
- The Enclosure Acts of the late eighteenth century saw wealthy landowners building large farms and introducing mproved farming methods.
- Corn Laws of 1815 temporarily excluded foreign grain which in turn drove up prices of English grain. A period of economic depression and mass unemployment ensued
- The Peterloo Massacre, 1819 saw the government respond aggressively to the publics agitation. Several died and hundreds were injured. The Massacre was followed by the Six Acts, broadly aimed at repressing dissent.
- Fox and North’s plans to reform the East India Company led others to accuse them of corruption and helped George to regain popularity. When Fox and North resigned George replaced them with William Pitt the Younger.
Much of George's later years were plagued by family problems and ill-health. In 1811 the illness that he had first experienced some twenty years previously returned and he was acknowledged to be violently insane. Parliament appointed the Prince of Wales as regent and George III remained mentally sick for the rest of his years.
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