144 CHATHAM was sister to two eminent statesmen, viz. the Rt. Hon. George Grenville, and Richard, Earl Temple. She ^. a widow, at Burton Pynsent, co. Somerset, 2, and was l>ur. i6 Apr. 1803, in Westm. Abbey, aged 83. Admon. Feb. 1 8 10. Her peerage devolved on her s. and h., John, 2nd Earl of Chatham. See below. EARLDOM. I. William Pitt, 2nd s. of Robert P., of Boconnock, , ^. Cornwall (who d. 20 May 1727), by Harriet, sister of ' ■ John, 5th Viscount and ist Earl Grandison [I.], da. of Gen. the Hon. Edward Villiers, of Dromana, was b. in Westm., 15 Nov., and bap. 13 Dec. 1708, at St. James's, Westm.; ed. at Eton, on the Foundation; matric. at Oxford (Trin. Coll.) 14 Jan. 1726/7, as a Gent. Commoner, but left without taking a degree, owing to gout; and in 1728/9 spent some months in studying at Utrecht.(*) Cornet in the 2nd (King's own) regt. of Horse (not, as commonly said, in the Blues) i73i/2-36,() when he was deprived of his commission on account of his first speech in Pari. M.P. (Whig) for Old Sarum, 1735-47; for Seaford, 1747-54; for Aldborough, 1754-56; for Oakhampton, 1756-57 (being elected also for Buckingham 1756); and for Bath 1757-66. Groom of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales, 1737-45. F.R.S. 26 Jan. 1743/4; P.C. 28 May 1746; Paymaster Gen. of the Forces 1746-55. Sec. of State for the South, Dec. 1756 to Apr. 1757, and June 1757 to 1761. On 4 Aug. 1766 he was cr. VISCOUNT PITT OF BURTON PYNSENT,(=) co. Somerset, and EARL OF CHATHAM, co. Kent.C') Lord Privy Seal July i766(^) to Oct. 1768, being considered the actual Prime Minister (under the nominal lead of the Duke of Grafton) during the earlier part of that period, till his ill health, early in 1767, wholly secluded him from business. In Jan. 1770 he again took his place in Pari., but in opposition to the ministry, whereupon the Duke of Grafton resigned the lead to Lord North, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. For the second time ill health (for two years, 1775-77) again kept him in strict retirement, but on 30 May 1777, "swathed in flannels" he made a celebrated speech in the House of Lords (his motion being rejected by 76 against 26) (*) His grandfather, Thomas Pitt, writes, 12 May 1724, "He is a hopeful lad, and doubt not he will answer his friends' expectation." V.G. (^) This was known as "Cobham's Horse," after its then Colonel. The pic- turesque description of Pitt as "the terrible Cornet of the Blues" has given wide currency to the error that he was in the ist Dragoon Guards. V.G. ('^) This estate, worth ^^3,000 a year, had been left him by Sir William Pynsent, Bart, (who d. 5./>., 8 Jan. 1765), owing to the testator's admiration of his patriotism. ('^) See some interesting remarks, on the inadvisability and the unpopularity of his taking a Peerage, in Stanhope's History of England, vol, v, pp. 241-246, where Lord Chesterfield's remark is quoted "that all his enemies rejoice at it and all his friends are stupefied and dumbfounded." (°) For this and other great offices of State see vol. ii, Appendix D.
