# Grafton ministry

The Grafton ministry was the British government headed by Prime Minister Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, in government from October 1768 to January 1770.

## History

The Grafton ministry arose from the gradual decay of its predecessor, the Chatham ministry, which Grafton had effectively been leading for some time due to the illness and withdrawal from public affairs of its nominal head Lord Chatham. In order to maintain a comfortable parliamentary majority, Grafton had drawn the Bedford Whigs (Earl Gower, Viscount Weymouth, and the Earl of Hillsborough) into the ministry at the end of 1767. Although Grafton himself and many of the previous members of the government (including Chatham) supported a conciliatory policy towards Britain's restless American colonies, the Bedfords favoured stronger, more coercive measures, and the ministry, in spite of Grafton's own views, drifted towards the Bedford position. When this led to an attempt to replace the conciliatory Southern Secretary, Lord Shelburne, Chatham finally roused himself enough to resign from his position as Lord Privy Seal, leaving Grafton as the nominal as well as real head of a ministry in which the Bedford faction was now stronger than ever.
The government was widely criticised for its handling of foreign affairs, particularly for allowing the Republic of Corsica, a British ally, to fall to the French during the Corsican Crisis. It was subject to a series of attacks in what became known as the Junius Letters. With the resignation in January 1770 of Grafton himself, Lord Camden, and Lord Granby, Chatham's remaining adherents in the cabinet, the Grafton ministry was replaced by the North ministry under the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord North, which was to last until 1782.

## Cabinet

| Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party |
| First Lord of the Treasury | Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton(head of ministry) | 14 October 1768 (1768-10-14) | 28 January 1770 (1770-1-28) | Whig |
| Lord Chancellor | Charles Pratt, 1st Baron Camden | 30 July 1766 (1766-7-30) | 17 January 1770 (1770-1-17) | Whig |
| Lord Chancellor | Charles Yorke | 17 January 1770 (1770-1-17) | 20 January 1770 (1770-1-20) | Independent |
| Lord President of the Council | Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower | 22 December 1767 (1767-12-22) | 24 November 1779 (1779-11-24) | Tory |
| Lord Privy Seal | George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol | 1768 (1768) | 1770 (1770) | Independent |
| Chancellor of the ExchequerLeader of the House of Commons | Frederick North, Lord North | 11 September 1767 (1767-9-11) | 27 March 1782 (1782-3-27) | Tory |
| Secretary of State for the Northern Department | Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth | 20 January 1768 (1768-1-20) | 21 October 1768 (1768-10-21) | Tory |
| Secretary of State for the Northern Department | William Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford | 21 October 1768 (1768-10-21) | 19 December 1770 (1770-12-19) | Independent |
| Secretary of State for the Southern Department | William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne | 30 July 1766 (1766-7-30) | 20 October 1768 (1768-10-20) | Whig |
| Secretary of State for the Southern Department | Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth | 21 October 1768 (1768-10-21) | 12 December 1770 (1770-12-12) | Tory |
| Secretary of State for the Colonies | Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough | 27 February 1768 (1768-2-27) | 27 August 1772 (1772-8-27) | Independent |
| First Lord of the Admiralty | Sir Edward Hawke | 1766 (1766) | 1771 (1771) | Independent |
| Master-General of the Ordnance | John Manners, Marquess of Granby | 14 May 1763 (1763-5-14) | 18 October 1770 (1770-10-18) | Independent |
| Minister without Portfolio | Henry Seymour Conway | 1768 (1768) | 1770 (1770) | Whig |

### Changes

* October 1768 – Lord Weymouth is succeeded by Lord Rochford as Northern Secretary. Lord Shelburne is succeeded by Weymouth as Southern Secretary.
* January 1770 – Lord Camden is succeeded by Charles Yorke as Lord Chancellor. Yorke dies on 20 January and the position is left in commission.