Canning, George, a distinguished British statesman and orator, born in London; studied for the bar; entered Parliament as a protégé of Pitt, whom he strenuously supported; was rewarded by an under-secretaryship; married a lady of high rank, with a fortune; satirised the Whigs by his pen in his “Anti-Jacobin”; on the death of Pitt became minister of Foreign Affairs; under Portland distinguished himself by defeating the schemes of Napoleon; became a member of the Liverpool ministry, and once more minister of Foreign Affairs; on the death of Liverpool was made Prime Minister, and after a period of unpopularity became popular by adopting, to the disgust of his old colleagues, a liberal policy; was not equal to the opposition he provoked, and died at the age of 57 (1770‒1827).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Canning, Charles John, Earl * Cano, Alonzo