Viscount Melbourne becomes Prime Minister for the second time

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Domains

Changes of government, elections and reigns

Dates

Date of occurrence 1835-04-18-1841-08-30

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Resources

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Viscount Melbourne, the leader of the Whig Party, had served as Prime Minister brieftly already after the retirement of Lord Grey in July 1834. However, after less than five months, King William IV grew dissatisfied with the Whigs, and ordered that the Tories, under Robert Peel, be permitted to form a government. Peel called a general election to try to accumulate a majority in Parliament, but when the election result did not emerge in his favour, he was forced to resign, and allow the Whigs to take over again. (Never again since has a British monarch attempted to appoint a government in contradiction of the parliamentary majority.) Lord Melbourne thus became Prime Minister for a second time, and this time was to hold the post for over six years. He saw the death of William IV and the…

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159 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Viscount Melbourne becomes Prime Minister for the second time". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1850, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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