William Pitt the Younger King refused to support him. Fox stated the bill was necessary to save the company from bankruptcy. Pitt responded that: "Necessity was the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It was the argument of tyrants; it was the creed of slaves." The King was opposed to the bill; when it passed in the House of Commons, he secured its defeat in the House of Lords by threatening to regard anyone who voted for it as his enemy. Following the bill's failure in the Upper House, George III dismissed the coalition government and finally entrusted the premiership to William Pitt,
Records of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom Wilmington to Theresa May) University college with most alumni Prime MinistersChrist Church, Oxford13 (George Grenville to Sir Alec Douglas-Home) Vocational institution with most Prime Ministers as studentsThe Inns of Court11 (Lord Wilmington to Tony Blair). Of these, eight passed through Lincoln's Inn (William Pitt the Younger to Tony Blair). The first Prime Minister never to have been a university graduate was the Duke of Devonshire (served 1756–57), the last (as of ) was John Major (served 1990–97). The earliest Prime Minister to be an armed forces veteran was Henry Pelham, Prime Minister in 1743–54, who had served as a volunteer