Key People- William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779-1848)

William Lamb was Prime Minister in 1834 and then from 1835 to 1841.  Though he had been a supporter of both Whigs and Tories (having been on both administrations), as Prime Minister he was Whig. 

Before His Premiership

• Born into an aristocratic Whig family in London
• Quite unfortunately for him, Melbourne is perhaps most well known for the affair his wife had with famous play write Lord Byron- it was the scandal of the era 
• Was made Lord Melbourne in 1805 and started in Parliament the next year
• In 1825 Melbourne formally parted from his wife because of the public affair she was having with Byron
• He was made Secretary of Ireland in 1827 under a Tory PM, despite being a Whig himself
• At the death of his father in 1829 he inherited his title and made it to the House of Lords 
• Melbourne was then Home Secretary under a Whig government in 1830- he focused on urban trade union movements and agricultural unrest- in 1834 he is well known for suppressing the Tolpuddle Martyrs (small group of workers in Dorset who formed a trade union in demonstration of their low wages)
• He had faith in an aristocratic government and left little time to make reforms which would have helped the lower classes 

His Premiership (1834-1841)

• Melbourne's first term was in 1834- he was appointed by King William IV for being "the least bad choice"- he was often criticised for being too relaxed and refused the King's requests to include Peel and Wellington, he also upset Radical Whigs by excluding them from his Cabinet 
• He then returned in 1835
• He is often credited with managing to have a relatively successful political career in office, despite its instability at the time
• He raised taxes, efficiently kept order and manged foreign affairs
• Melbourne was by no means a reformer (he was reported to call change "a great danger and evil")- he did not see reform as a necessity as the Great Reform Act 1832 had been passed
• Although, he did pass the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 allowing the new middle class to have control over local government 
• He kept up the support of Parliament using an alliance with the Whigs, Radicals, and Irish MPs
• in 1838 Victoria had her coronation and she developed a close relationship with Melbourne- he acted as a mentor to the young Queen, guiding her on politics and government  
• When Melbourne resigned after defeat in 1839 Victoria invited Peel to form a government but due to technicalities the Queen refused to comply with Peel declined the invitation- Melbourne returned to office after 5 months 
• He was faced with more social discontent from the Chartist Movement and Ant-Corn Law League- government responses to these groups were less than perfect 
• Melbourne resigned in 1841 after numerous, consecutive defeats in Parliament- his Cabinet was falling apart and his support in Parliament was declining 
• His role to the Queen as confidante and adviser fell to her new husband Albert- with his help Victoria allowed Peel to be the new PM with his new Conservative Party 
• Melbourne died in November 1848 after a decline in his health leading to a stroke