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The Right Honourable George Canning (11 April
1770-8 August 1827) was a British politician who
served as Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs|Foreign Secretary and, briefly, Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister.

==Early Life==

Canning was born in London, but in relative
poverty after his father had renounced his right
to inherit the family estate in exchange for the
payment of his heavy debts. Canning's father died
when he was one year old. However his maternal
uncle, a banker, helped provide for the family,
including sending Canning to be at Eton College
and Christ Church, Oxford.

Canning's uncle was a Whig and initially he
introduced his nephew to Whigs such as Charles
James Fox, but he soon came to be a supporter of
William Pitt the Younger. In 1793, thanks to the
help of Pitt, Canning became a Member of
Parliament for Newtown, Isle of Wight|Newtown on
the Isle of Wight, a rotten borough. Canning
became a prominent public speaker and was one of
the first politicians to campaign heavily in the
country, making many speeches outside
Parliament.In 1797 upon hearing of the death of
Edmund Burke, Canning wrote "Here is but one
event, but that is an event for the world - Burke
is Dead!".  Canning was also one of the first
prominent politicians of the era to openly use the
label "Tory" which was slowly coming into use as a
term for the Pittites. Later in 1824 he was almost
the first to use the term
"Conservatism|Conservative".

==First Ministerial posts==

He received his first ministerial post three years
later when he became Parliamentary Under Secretary
of State|Under Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs. In this post he proved a strong supporter
of Pitt, often taking his side in disputes with
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs|Foreign
Secretary William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron
Grenville|Lord Grenville. In 1799 Canning became a
commissioner of the Board of Control, followed by
Paymaster of the Forces in 1800. When Pitt
resigned in 1801, Canning loyally followed him
into opposition and again returned to office in
1804 with Pitt, becoming Treasurer of the Navy.

When Pitt died in 1806, Canning left office but
the following year he was appointed Foreign
Secretary in the new government of the William
Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|Duke of
Portland.  Given key responsibilities for the
country's diplomacy in the Napoleonic Wars, he was
responsible for planning the outmanoeuvring of
Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte at
Copenhagen.

==Duel with Castlereagh==

In 1809 Canning entered into a series of disputes
within the government which were to become famous.
He entered into arguments with the Secretary of
State for War and the Colonies, Robert Stewart,
Viscount Castlereagh|Lord Castlereagh over the
deployment of troops which Canning had promised
would be sent to Portugal but Castlereagh sent to
Holland. The government became increasingly
paralysed in disputes between the two men, with
most Cabinet ministers siding with one or the
other. Portland was in deteriorating health and
gave no lead, until Canning threatened resignation
unless Castlereagh was removed, hopefully
replacing him with Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess
Wellesley|Lord Wellesley. Portland agreed to make
this change when it was possible and kept the
agreement secret.

Castlereagh discovered the deal in September 1809
and was furious, demanding redress. He challenged
Canning to a duel, which was fought on September
21 1809. Canning had never before fired a pistol.
In the conflict Canning missed whilst Castlereagh
wounded his opponent in the thigh. There was much
outrage that two Cabinet Ministers had resorted to
such a method. Shortly afterwards Portland
resigned as Prime Minister due to his health and
Canning offered himself as a potential successor
to George III of the United Kingdom|George III.
However he was not chosen, with Spencer Perceval
instead being appointed, and Canning left office
once more. He had, however, achieved a Pyrrhic
victory as Castlereagh also left office.

==Return to government==

Upon Perceval's assassination in 1812 the new
Prime Minister, Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of
Liverpool|Lord Liverpool offered Canning the
position of Foreign Secretary once more. However
Canning refused as he also wished to be Leader of
the House of Commons and was reluctant to serve in
government with Castlereagh. In 1814 he became the
British Ambassador to Portugal, returning the
following year. He received several further offers
of office from Liverpool and in 1816 he became
President of the Board of Control.

Canning resigned from office once more in 1820, on
this occasion in opposition to the treatment of
Caroline of Brunswick|Queen Caroline, wife of the
new King George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV
who had become estranged from her husband. Canning
and Caroline were personal friends and are
believed to have had a brief affair.

==Another return==

In 1822 Castlereagh, now Marquess of Londonderry,
committed suicide and Canning succeeded him as
both Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of
Commons. In his second term of office he sought to
prevent South America from coming into the French
sphere of influence and in this he was successful.
He also gave support to the growing campaign for
the abolition of slavery.

==Prime Minister==

Liverpool retired as Prime Minister in 1827 and
Canning was chosen to succeed him, in preference
to both the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of
Wellington|Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel.
Neither man agreed to serve under Canning and they
were followed by five other members of Liverpool's
Cabinet as well as forty junior members of the
government. The Tory Party was now heavily split
between the "High Tories" (or "Ultras", nicknamed
after the contemporary party in France) and the
moderates supporting Canning - often called
'Canningites'. As a result Canning found it hard
to form a government and recoursed to inviting a
number of Whigs to join his Cabinet, including
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of
Lansdowne|Lord Lansdowne. The government agreed
not to discuss the difficult question of
parliamentary reform, which Canning was opposed to
but the Whigs supported.

However Canning's health was already in decline
and on August 8 1827 he died in the very room as
Fox had done so, 21 years earlier. Canning holds
the dubious record of having served as Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom for the total
shortest period - a mere 119 days. He was buried
in Westminster Abbey.

==Legacy==

Canning has come to be regarded by some as a "lost
leader", with much speculation about what would
have happened had he lived. His government of
moderate Tories and Whigs continued for a few
months under Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount
Goderich|Lord Goderich but fell apart at the start
of 1828. It was succeeded by a government headed
by the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of
Wellington|Duke of Wellington, initially including
some Canningites but which rapidly became a "High
Tory" rump, with many of the Canningites drifting
over to the Whigs, and which soon went down to
massive defeat. Some historians have seen the
revival of the Tories from the 1830s onwards, in
the form of the Conservative Party
(UK)|Conservative Party as the overcoming of the
divisions of 1827. What would have been the course
of events had Canning lived is highly speculative.

To some later Conservatives, most prominently
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of
Beaconsfield|Benjamin Disraeli, Canning came to be
regarded as the forerunner of liberal One
Nation|One Nation Conservatism, providing a
contrast to Sir Robert Peel, who Disraeli attacked
bitterly.

==George Canning's Government, April - August
1827==
*George Canning - First Lord of the Treasury,
Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the
House of Commons
*John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst|Lord Lyndhurst -
Lord Chancellor
*Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby|Lord Harrowby
- Lord President of the Council
*William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland|The Duke
of Portland - Lord Privy Seal
*William Sturges Bourne - Secretary of State for
the Home Department
*John William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley|Lord Dudley
- Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
*Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount
Goderich|Lord Goderich - Secretary of State for
War and the Colonies and Leader of the House of
Lords
*William Huskisson - President of the Board of
Trade and Treasurer of the Navy
*Charles Watkins Williams Wynn|Charles Williams
Wynn - President of the Board of Control
*Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley|Lord Bexley
- Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
*Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord
Palmerston - Secretary at War
*Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of
Lansdowne|Lord Lansdowne - Minister without
Portfolio

Changes
*May, 1827 - George Howard, 6th Earl of
Carlisle|Lord Carlisle, the First Commissioner of
Woods and Forests, enters the Cabinet.
*July, 1827 - The Duke of Portland becomes a
minister without portfolio.  Lord Carlisle
succeeds him as Lord Privy Seal.  W.S. Bourne
succeeds Carlisle as First Commissioner of Woods
and Forests.  Lord Lansdowne succeeds Bourne as
Home Secretary.  George Tierney, the Master of the
Mint, enters the cabinet.

start box
succession box | title=Paymaster of the Forces |
before=Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby|Dudley
Ryder and Thomas Steele (politician)|Thomas Steele
| after=Thomas Steele (politician) |Thomas Steele
and Sylvester Douglas, 1st Baron Glenbervie|The
Lord Glenbervie |
years=1800–1801
(jointly with Thomas
Steele (politician)|Thomas Steele)
succession box | title=Treasurer of the Navy |
before=George Tierney | after=Richard Brinsley
Sheridan | years=1804–1806
succession box | title=Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs|Foreign Secretary | before=Charles
Grey, 2nd Earl Grey|Viscount Howick | after=Henry
Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|The Earl Bathurst |
years=1807–1809
succession box | title=President of the Board of
Control | before=Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of
Buckinghamshire|The Earl of Buckinghamshire |
after=Charles Bathurst | years=1816–1821
succession box one to two| title1=Leader of the
House of Commons | title2=Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs|Foreign Secretary | before=Robert
Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|The Marquess of
Londonderry | after1=William Huskisson |
after2=John William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley|The
Viscount Dudley and Ward | years1=1822–1827
| years2=1822–1827
succession box | title=Chancellor of the Exchequer
| before=Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount
Goderich|Frederick John Robinson | after=John
Charles Herries | years=1827
succession box | title=Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom|Prime Minister | before=Robert
Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|The Earl of
Liverpool | after=Frederick John Robinson, 1st
Viscount Goderich|The Viscount Goderich |
years=1827
end box

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

The Right Honourable George Canning (11 April
1770-8 August 1827) was a British politician who
served as Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs|Foreign Secretary and, briefly, Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister.

==Early Life==

Canning was born in London, but in relative
poverty after his father had renounced his right
to inherit the family estate in exchange for the
payment of his heavy debts. Canning's father died
when he was one year old. However his maternal
uncle, a banker, helped provide for the family,
including sending Canning to be at Eton College
and Christ Church, Oxford.

Canning's uncle was a Whig and initially he
introduced his nephew to Whigs such as Charles
James Fox, but he soon came to be a supporter of
William Pitt the Younger. In 1793, thanks to the
help of Pitt, Canning became a Member of
Parliament for Newtown, Isle of Wight|Newtown on
the Isle of Wight, a rotten borough. Canning
became a prominent public speaker and was one of
the first politicians to campaign heavily in the
country, making many speeches outside
Parliament.In 1797 upon hearing of the death of
Edmund Burke, Canning wrote "Here is but one
event, but that is an event for the world - Burke
is Dead!".  Canning was also one of the first
prominent politicians of the era to openly use the
label "Tory" which was slowly coming into use as a
term for the Pittites. Later in 1824 he was almost
the first to use the term
"Conservatism|Conservative".

==First Ministerial posts==

He received his first ministerial post three years
later when he became Parliamentary Under Secretary
of State|Under Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs. In this post he proved a strong supporter
of Pitt, often taking his side in disputes with
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs|Foreign
Secretary William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron
Grenville|Lord Grenville. In 1799 Canning became a
commissioner of the Board of Control, followed by
Paymaster of the Forces in 1800. When Pitt
resigned in 1801, Canning loyally followed him
into opposition and again returned to office in
1804 with Pitt, becoming Treasurer of the Navy.

When Pitt died in 1806, Canning left office but
the following year he was appointed Foreign
Secretary in the new government of the William
Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|Duke of
Portland.  Given key responsibilities for the
country's diplomacy in the Napoleonic Wars, he was
responsible for planning the outmanoeuvring of
Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte at
Copenhagen.

==Duel with Castlereagh==

In 1809 Canning entered into a series of disputes
within the government which were to become famous.
He entered into arguments with the Secretary of
State for War and the Colonies, Robert Stewart,
Viscount Castlereagh|Lord Castlereagh over the
deployment of troops which Canning had promised
would be sent to Portugal but Castlereagh sent to
Holland. The government became increasingly
paralysed in disputes between the two men, with
most Cabinet ministers siding with one or the
other. Portland was in deteriorating health and
gave no lead, until Canning threatened resignation
unless Castlereagh was removed, hopefully
replacing him with Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess
Wellesley|Lord Wellesley. Portland agreed to make
this change when it was possible and kept the
agreement secret.

Castlereagh discovered the deal in September 1809
and was furious, demanding redress. He challenged
Canning to a duel, which was fought on September
21 1809. Canning had never before fired a pistol.
In the conflict Canning missed whilst Castlereagh
wounded his opponent in the thigh. There was much
outrage that two Cabinet Ministers had resorted to
such a method. Shortly afterwards Portland
resigned as Prime Minister due to his health and
Canning offered himself as a potential successor
to George III of the United Kingdom|George III.
However he was not chosen, with Spencer Perceval
instead being appointed, and Canning left office
once more. He had, however, achieved a Pyrrhic
victory as Castlereagh also left office.

==Return to government==

Upon Perceval's assassination in 1812 the new
Prime Minister, Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of
Liverpool|Lord Liverpool offered Canning the
position of Foreign Secretary once more. However
Canning refused as he also wished to be Leader of
the House of Commons and was reluctant to serve in
government with Castlereagh. In 1814 he became the
British Ambassador to Portugal, returning the
following year. He received several further offers
of office from Liverpool and in 1816 he became
President of the Board of Control.

Canning resigned from office once more in 1820, on
this occasion in opposition to the treatment of
Caroline of Brunswick|Queen Caroline, wife of the
new King George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV
who had become estranged from her husband. Canning
and Caroline were personal friends and are
believed to have had a brief affair.

==Another return==

In 1822 Castlereagh, now Marquess of Londonderry,
committed suicide and Canning succeeded him as
both Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of
Commons. In his second term of office he sought to
prevent South America from coming into the French
sphere of influence and in this he was successful.
He also gave support to the growing campaign for
the abolition of slavery.

==Prime Minister==

Liverpool retired as Prime Minister in 1827 and
Canning was chosen to succeed him, in preference
to both the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of
Wellington|Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel.
Neither man agreed to serve under Canning and they
were followed by five other members of Liverpool's
Cabinet as well as forty junior members of the
government. The Tory Party was now heavily split
between the "High Tories" (or "Ultras", nicknamed
after the contemporary party in France) and the
moderates supporting Canning - often called
'Canningites'. As a result Canning found it hard
to form a government and recoursed to inviting a
number of Whigs to join his Cabinet, including
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of
Lansdowne|Lord Lansdowne. The government agreed
not to discuss the difficult question of
parliamentary reform, which Canning was opposed to
but the Whigs supported.

However Canning's health was already in decline
and on August 8 1827 he died in the very room as
Fox had done so, 21 years earlier. Canning holds
the dubious record of having served as Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom for the total
shortest period - a mere 119 days. He was buried
in Westminster Abbey.

==Legacy==

Canning has come to be regarded by some as a "lost
leader", with much speculation about what would
have happened had he lived. His government of
moderate Tories and Whigs continued for a few
months under Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount
Goderich|Lord Goderich but fell apart at the start
of 1828. It was succeeded by a government headed
by the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of
Wellington|Duke of Wellington, initially including
some Canningites but which rapidly became a "High
Tory" rump, with many of the Canningites drifting
over to the Whigs, and which soon went down to
massive defeat. Some historians have seen the
revival of the Tories from the 1830s onwards, in
the form of the Conservative Party
(UK)|Conservative Party as the overcoming of the
divisions of 1827. What would have been the course
of events had Canning lived is highly speculative.

To some later Conservatives, most prominently
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of
Beaconsfield|Benjamin Disraeli, Canning came to be
regarded as the forerunner of liberal One
Nation|One Nation Conservatism, providing a
contrast to Sir Robert Peel, who Disraeli attacked
bitterly.

==George Canning's Government, April - August
1827==
*George Canning - First Lord of the Treasury,
Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the
House of Commons
*John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst|Lord Lyndhurst -
Lord Chancellor
*Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby|Lord Harrowby
- Lord President of the Council
*William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland|The Duke
of Portland - Lord Privy Seal
*William Sturges Bourne - Secretary of State for
the Home Department
*John William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley|Lord Dudley
- Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
*Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount
Goderich|Lord Goderich - Secretary of State for
War and the Colonies and Leader of the House of
Lords
*William Huskisson - President of the Board of
Trade and Treasurer of the Navy
*Charles Watkins Williams Wynn|Charles Williams
Wynn - President of the Board of Control
*Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley|Lord Bexley
- Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
*Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord
Palmerston - Secretary at War
*Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of
Lansdowne|Lord Lansdowne - Minister without
Portfolio

Changes
*May, 1827 - George Howard, 6th Earl of
Carlisle|Lord Carlisle, the First Commissioner of
Woods and Forests, enters the Cabinet.
*July, 1827 - The Duke of Portland becomes a
minister without portfolio.  Lord Carlisle
succeeds him as Lord Privy Seal.  W.S. Bourne
succeeds Carlisle as First Commissioner of Woods
and Forests.  Lord Lansdowne succeeds Bourne as
Home Secretary.  George Tierney, the Master of the
Mint, enters the cabinet.

start box
succession box | title=Paymaster of the Forces |
before=Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby|Dudley
Ryder and Thomas Steele (politician)|Thomas Steele
| after=Thomas Steele (politician) |Thomas Steele
and Sylvester Douglas, 1st Baron Glenbervie|The
Lord Glenbervie |
years=1800–1801
(jointly with Thomas
Steele (politician)|Thomas Steele)
succession box | title=Treasurer of the Navy |
before=George Tierney | after=Richard Brinsley
Sheridan | years=1804–1806
succession box | title=Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs|Foreign Secretary | before=Charles
Grey, 2nd Earl Grey|Viscount Howick | after=Henry
Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|The Earl Bathurst |
years=1807–1809
succession box | title=President of the Board of
Control | before=Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of
Buckinghamshire|The Earl of Buckinghamshire |
after=Charles Bathurst | years=1816–1821
succession box one to two| title1=Leader of the
House of Commons | title2=Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs|Foreign Secretary | before=Robert
Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|The Marquess of
Londonderry | after1=William Huskisson |
after2=John William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley|The
Viscount Dudley and Ward | years1=1822–1827
| years2=1822–1827
succession box | title=Chancellor of the Exchequer
| before=Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount
Goderich|Frederick John Robinson | after=John
Charles Herries | years=1827
succession box | title=Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom|Prime Minister | before=Robert
Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|The Earl of
Liverpool | after=Frederick John Robinson, 1st
Viscount Goderich|The Viscount Goderich |
years=1827
end box