George Grenville, PC (October 14, 1712 – November 13, 1770) is a British Whig statesman who rises to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an MP for Buckingham.
He emerges as one of Cobham's Cubs, a group of young members of Parliament associated with Lord Cobham.
In 1754 Grenville becomes Treasurer of the Navy, a position he holds twice until 1761.
In October 1761 he chooses to stay in government and accepts the new role of Leader of the Commons causing a rift with his brother-in-law and political ally William Pitt who had resigned.
Grenville is subsequently made Northern Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty by the new Prime Minister Lord Bute.
On 8 April 1763, Lord Bute resigns, and Grenville assumes his position as Prime Minister.
His government tries to bring public spending under control and pursues an assertive foreign policy.
His best known policy is the Stamp Act, a common tax in Great Britain onto the colonies in America, which instigates widespread opposition in Britain's American colonies and is later repealed.
Grenville has increasingly strained relations with his colleagues and the King and in 1765 he is dismissed by George III and replaced by Lord Rockingham.
For the last five years of his life Grenville leads a group of his supporters in opposition and stages a public reconciliation with Pitt.
