In this episode, we shine a light on Henry Addington, the often-overlooked Prime Minister who stepped into the hot seat during one of Britain’s most turbulent moments. Usually remembered as “the guy between the Pitts,” Addington inherited a nation exhausted by years of war with France, a shaky economy, and political factions that could barely stand to be in the same room together.
We explore how Addington—more comfortable as Speaker of the House than as a war leader—tried to steady the ship. From negotiating the short-lived Peace of Amiens to clashing with his old friend William Pitt the Younger, his premiership was a mix of quiet competence, hesitant decisions, and political drama he never fully wanted.
By the end, you’ll see why Addington’s legacy is more complicated than the footnote he’s often reduced to, and how his tenure reveals the pressure cooker that British politics had become in the early 1800s.
