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William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV (William Henry) (21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. William, the third son of King George III and younger brother and successor of King George IV, was the penultimate monarch of the House of Hanover. During his youth, he served in the Royal Navy; he was afterwards nicknamed the Sailor King. His reign was one of several reforms: the poor law updated, municipal government democratised, child labour restricted and slavery abolished throughout the British Empire. The most important reform legislation of William IV's reign was the Reform Act 1832, which refashioned the British electoral system. William did not meddle in politics as much as either his brother or his father, though he did prove to be the last monarch to appoint a Prime Minister contrary to the will of Parliament (in 1834).

Early life

William was born on 21 August 1765 at Buckingham House, the son of King George III and Queen Charlotte. He had two elder brothers (Prince George, Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick, Duke of York), and was not expected to inherit the Crown. He was baptised in the Great Council Chamber of St James's Palace on 18 September 1765 and his godparents were the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Henry and Princess Augusta Charlotte.

At the age of thirteen, he joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman, and was present at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1780. He served in New York during the American War of Independence. He became a Lieutenant in 1785 and a Captain the following year. In 1786, he was stationed in the West Indies.

William sought to be made a Duke like his elder brothers, and to receive a similar Parliamentary grant; but his father was reluctant. To put pressure on him, William threatened to run for the House of Commons for the constituency of Totnes in Devon. Defeated, George III created him Duke of Clarence and St Andrews in 1789, supposedly saying, "I well know it is one more vote added to the opposition."

The newly created Duke ceased his active service in the Royal Navy in 1790. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral upon retirement. When the United Kingdom declared war on France in 1793, he was anxious to serve his country, but was not put in command of a ship. Instead, he spent time in the House of Lords, where he defended the exorbitant spending of his brother, the Prince of Wales, who had applied to Parliament for a grant for relief of his debts. He also spoke in favour of slavery (which, although it had virtually died out in the United Kingdom, still existed in the British colonies); he used his experience in the West Indies to defend his positions.

After he left the Royal Navy, the Duke of Clarence had a long affair with an Irish actress, Dorothea Bland, better known by her stage name, Mrs Jordan. From 1791, the couple had at least ten illegitimate children, who were given the surname "FitzClarence." The affair would last for twenty years before ending in 1811, for political reasons. In that same year, Clarence was appointed Admiral of the Fleet. On 13 July 1818, he married Princess Adelaide, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, a woman half his age. Though he had been able to father at least ten illegitimate children by Mrs Jordan, Clarence had only two short-lived children by his wife: Charlotte Augusta Louisa (who died on 21 March 1819, the day of her birth1) and Elizabeth Georgina Adelaide (20 December 1820 - 4 March 1821).

Clarence's elder brother, the Prince of Wales, had been Prince Regent since 1811 because of the mental illness of their father, King George III. In 1820, the king died, leaving the Crown to the Prince Regent, who became King George IV. As the new King had no surviving legitimate children (his daughter, Princess Charlotte, died in childbirth in 1817), the Duke of Clarence was second in the line of succession to the Throne, preceded by his brother, Frederick, Duke of York. When the Duke of York died in 1827, Clarence, then more than sixty years old, became heir-presumptive. Later that year, George IV appointed Clarence to the office of Lord High Admiral, which had been in commission (that is, exercised by a board rather than by a single individual) since 1709. While in office, Clarence attempted to take independent control of naval affairs, although the law required him to act, under most circumstances, on the advice of at least two members of his Council. The King requested his resignation in 1828; the Duke of Clarence complied.

Note 1: Some sources cite 27 March 1819.

The Reform Crisis

When George IV died in 1830 without surviving legitimate issue, the Duke of Clarence ascended the Throne, aged 64, as William IV - the oldest man ever to assume the throne. Unlike his extravagant brother, William was unassuming, discouraging pomp and ceremony. In contrast to George IV, who tended to spend most of his time in Windsor Castle, William was known, especially early in his reign, to walk, unaccompanied, through London or Brighton. Until the Reform Crisis eroded his standing, he was very popular among the people.

At the beginning of William IV's reign, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister. During the general election of 1830 (the death of the monarch then required fresh elections), however, Wellington's Tories lost to the Whig Party under Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. When he became Prime Minister, Lord Grey immediately announced that he would attempt to reform an electoral system that had seen few changes since the fifteenth century. The inconsistencies in the system were great; for example, large towns such as Manchester and Birmingham elected no members, whilst minuscule boroughs such as Old Sarum (with seven voters) elected two members of Parliament each. Often, the small boroughs—also known as rotten boroughs and pocket boroughs—were "owned" by great aristocrats, whose "nominees" would invariably be elected by the constituents.

As monarch, William IV played an important role in the Reform Crisis. When the House of Commons defeated the First Reform Bill in 1831, Lord Grey's ministry urged an immediate dissolution of Parliament and a new general election. At first, William hesitated to exercise the power to dissolve Parliament, elections having just been held the year before. He was, however, irritated by the conduct of the Opposition, which formally requested the passage of an Address, or resolution, in the House of Lords, against dissolution. Regarding the Opposition's motion as an attack on his power, William IV went in person to the House of Lords, where debate on the Address was raging, and prorogued Parliament. Had he sent commissioners on his behalf, as was (and still is) normally done, they would have had to await the end of the debate, whereas the arrival of the monarch ended all debate. He proceeded to dissolve Parliament, forcing new elections for the House of Commons, which yielded a great victory for the reformers. But although the House of Commons was clearly in favour of parliamentary reform, the House of Lords remained implacably opposed to it. After the rejection of the Second Reform Bill (1831) by the Upper House, people across the country began to agitate for reform; some grew violent, participating in several "Reform Riots". The nation saw a political crisis greater than any since the Glorious Revolution in 1688.

In the face of popular excitement, the Grey ministry refused to accept defeat in the House of Lords, and re-introduced the Bill. It passed easily in the House of Commons, but was once again faced with difficulties in the House of Lords. Bowing to popular pressure, the Lords did not reject the bill outright, but were prepared to change its basic character through amendments. Frustrated by the Lords' recalcitrance, Grey suggested that the King "swamp" the House of Lords by creating a sufficient number of new peers to ensure the passage of the Reform Bill.

When William IV refused, citing the difficulties with a permanent expansion of the Peerage, Grey and his fellow ministers resigned. The King attempted to restore the Duke of Wellington to office, but first heard of an official resolution of the House of Commons requesting Grey's return. On the Duke of Wellington's advice, the King agreed to reappoint Grey's ministry. The King also agreed to create new peers if the House of Lords continued to pose difficulties, but did not have to resort to such an extraordinary course of action when the bill's opponents agreed to abstain. Consequently, Parliament passed the bill, which

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