RARE! British Prime Minister Henry Addington Cut Signature COA

  

"British Prime Minister" Henry Addington Cut Signature. This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.

Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth. (30 May 1757 - 15 February 1844) was a. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Addington is best known for obtaining the.

In 1802, an unfavourable peace with. Which marked the end of the.

When that treaty broke down he resumed the war, but he was without allies and conducted relatively weak defensive hostilities, ahead of what would become the. War of the Third Coalition. He was forced from office in favour of. Who had preceded Addington as Prime Minister. Addington is also known for his reactionary crackdown on advocates of democratic reforms during a ten-year spell as. He is the longest continuously serving holder of that office since it was created in 1782. Henry Addington was the son of. S physician; and Mary Addington, the daughter of the Rev. Haviland John Hiley, headmaster of. As a consequence of his father's position, Addington was a childhood friend of. And then studied law at. The couple had eight children, of whom six survived to adulthood.

Ursula Addington died in 1811; in 1823 Addington married a widow, Marianne Townsend, daughter of. William Scott, 1st Baron Stowell. He was elected to the. In 1784 as one of the Members of Parliament for. Speaker of the House of Commons.

Resigned from office, ostensibly over the refusal of. To remove some of the existing political restrictions on Roman Catholics in Ireland. , but poor health, failure in war, economic collapse, alarming levels of social unrest due to famine, and irreconcilable divisions within the Cabinet also played a role. Both Pitt and the King insisted that Addington take over as Prime Minister, despite his own objections, and his failed attempts to reconcile the King and Pitt. Foreign policy was the centrepiece of his term in office.

Some historians have been highly critical and said that it was ignorant and indifferent to Britain's greatest needs. However, Thomas Goldsmith argues that Addington and Hawkesbury conducted a logical, consistent and eurocentric balance-of-power policy, rooted in rules and assumptions governing their conduct, rather than a chaotic free-for-all approach. Addington's domestic reforms doubled the efficiency of the. In foreign affairs, he secured the.

While the treaty's terms were the bare minimum that that the British government could accept. Would not have agreed to any terms more favourable to the British, and the British government had reached a state of financial collapse from war expenditure, the loss of Continental markets for British goods and two successive failed harvests that had led to widespread famine and social unrest, rendering peace a necessity. By early 1803, Britain's financial and diplomatic positions had recovered sufficiently to allow Addington to declare war on France, when it became clear that the French would not allow a settlement for the defences of Malta that would have been secure enough to fend off a French invasion that appeared imminent.

At the time and ever since, Addington has been criticised for his lacklustre conduct of the war and his defensive posture. However, without allies, Britain's options were limited to defence. To gain allies, Addington cultivated better relations with Russia. Which later culminated in the.

Shortly after he left office. Addington also strengthened British defences against a French invasion through the building of. And the raising of more than 600,000 men at arms.