All the Talents
Preserved but no longer current.
This is the name given to the administration formed by Lord Grenville in 1806 on the death 9f William Pitt. It was an attempt at a coalition of Tories, moderate Whigs and extreme Whigs, and included Charles James Fox as Foreign Secretary. It accomplished nothing spectacular, however, though one great measure will always stand to its credit — the abolition of the slave trade. The Government was dissolved in 1807.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “All the Talents” mean?
This is the name given to the administration formed by Lord Grenville in 1806 on the death 9f William Pitt. It was an attempt at a coalition of Tories, moderate Whigs and extreme Whigs, and included Charles James Fox as Foreign Secretary. It accomplished nothing spectacular, however, though one great measure will always stand to its credit — the abolition of the slave trade. The Government was dissolved in 1807.
Is “All the Talents” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.