Of this family, which has been long seated at Blandford, in the county of Dorset, as will appear under the title of Lord Rivers, was THOMAS PITT, Esq. born in that town, son of the Rev. John Pitt, Rector of Blandford, co. Dorset, who died 1672.

He was by Queen Anne appointed governor of Fort St. George, in the East Indies, where he many years resided, and there purchased, for the sum of 48,000 pagodas (20,4001. sterling), that extraordinarily fine diamond, weighing 127 carats, which he sold to the King of France for 135,000l. sterling, and which to this day is styled Pitt's diamond. In 1715, he was appointed a Commissioner for building fifty new churches, and on July 6th, 1716, constituted governor of Jamaica; whereupon his seat in parliament for Old Sarum being vacated, he was elected for Thirsk, in Yorkshire. He repaired and beautified the church of Blandford St. Mary, in Dorsetshire (as appears by an inscription on the wall over the entrance of the aisle); and those of Stratford, in Wiltshire; and of Abbotston, in Hampshire.

a "On the 30th December, 1709, the Directors of the East India Company chose Mr. Gulston Addison, an eminent Merchant, residing at Fort St. George, Governor and President at that place, in the room of Thomas Pitt, Esq. who, it is said, has desired leave to come home." Gent. Mag. 1786, p. 781.

But for a more particular description of this valuable diamond, we must refer the reader to the Museum Britannicum, p. 69, and seq. published, in 1778, by John and Andrew Van Rymsdyk; and for the exact representation of it in its different states, to Tab. xxviii. of the same work, which exhibits a great variety of natural curiosities belonging to that noble and magnificent cabinet, the British Museum. See also some account of it in Gent. Mag. Vol. LVI. p. 781. The diamond was shipped from Fort St. George, 8th March, 1701-2. It was sold to the Duke of Orleans, for the French King, about 1717. It was about the size of a pigeon's egg.

He married Jane, daughter of James Innis, son of Adam Innis, of Reid-hall, in the shire of Murray, in Scotland (grandson of Sir Robert Innis, of Innis, in the said county, Bart.), by the Lady Grisel Steuart, daughter of James Lord Down, and Earl of Murray (who married Margaret, Countess of Murray, daughter and heir of James Steuart, Earl of Murray, natural son of James V. King of Scotland, and base brother of Queen Mary), and had issue by her (who died January 10th, 1727), three sons and two daughters; viz.

1. Robert Pitt, of Boconnock, in Cornwall, Esq. of whom hereafter.

2. Thomas, who, in the years 1713, 1714, and 1722, was elected to parliament for the borough of Wilton, in the county of Wilts, was a Colonel of horse; and having married Lady Frances, daughter and coheir of Robert Ridgeway, Earl of Londonderry, (whose ancestor, Sir Thomas Ridgeway, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was sent into Ireland, and there planted the first Protestant colony), was, by privy-seal, dated at St. James's, May 4th, and by patent, at Dublin, June 3d, 1719, created Baron of Londonderry, in the kingdom of Ireland; and, in the year 1726, was further advanced to the titles of Viscount of Galen-Ridgeway, and Earl of Londonderry, in the said kingdom, by privy-seal dated at Kensington, September 7th, and by patent at Dublin, October 8th. In 1727, he was chosen member to parliament for Old Sarum; but his seat was vacated on his being constituted Captaingeneral and Commander in Chief of his Majesty's Leeward Islands in America. He died at St. Christopher's, on September 12th, 1729, aged forty-one; and his corpse being brought over to England, was interred at Blandford St. Mary's, in Dorsetshire. He had issue by his said wife, two sons and one daughter; Thomas and Ridgeway, successively Earls of Londonderry, who both died unmarried, whereby that title became extinct; and Lady Lucy, wife of Pierce Meyrick, of Bodorgan, in the county of Anglesea, Esq.

3. John Pitt, Esq. who served in the British Parliament for the boroughs of Hindon, Old Sarum, and Camelford, and was a Colonel in the first regiment of Foot guards, and Lieutenant-governor of Bermudas. He married Mary, eldest daughter of Thomas, and sister of Thomas, Viscount Fauconberg, and died on February 9th, 1744, without issue.

4. Lucy, married February 24th, 1712, to James Stanhope, Esq. created Earl Stanhope (mother by him of Philip Earl Stan

hope), after whose death she had a grant of an annuity of 2,6001. on the Irish establishment, for thirty-one years, dated August 16th, 1722; and deceasing on February 24th, 1723, was interred by her husband, at Chevening, in Kent.

5. Essex, married to Charles Cholmondeley, of Vale-royal, in the county of Chester, Esq.

Their father departed this life April 28th, 1726, and was buried at Blandford St. Mary's, in Dorsetshire.

I now return to ROBERT PITT, of Beconnock, Esq. the eldest son, who served in parliament, in the year 1713, for the borough of Old Sarum, and in 1722 for Oakhampton, in which year he was appointed one of the Clerks of the Green Cloth to his late Majesty, then Prince of Wales; and departing this life, on May 20th, 1727, was buried at Blandford St. Mary's. He married Harriot, sister of John Villiers, Earl of Grandison (which Lady died at Paris, October 21st, N.S. 1736, and was buried at Blandford St. Mary's), and by her had issue two sons and five daughters; viz.

1. Thomas Pitt, of Boconnock, in Cornwall, Esq. who was Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and Steward of the Dutchy, in Cornwall and Devon, to Frederick late Prince of Wales. He was member in four Parliaments for Oakhampton, and in three of them was elected also for Old Sarum, which borough he represented in two parliaments, and, dying in July, 1760, was buried at Blandford St. Mary's. He married Christian, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, of Hagley, in Worcestershire, Bart. and sister of George, late Lord Lyttelton (by his wife, Christian, sister of Richard Temple, late Lord Viscount Cobham), by which Lady, who died on June 5th, 1750, and was buried at Hagley, he had issue two daughters; Amelia, married to William Spry, LL.D.; and Christian, to Thomas Saunders, Esq. Governor of Fort St. George; also one son, Thomas Pitt, created Lord Camelford, 1784, who was succeeded by his only son, Thomas, second Lord Camelford, an eccentric young man, on whose death, 1804, the title became extinct. His only sister and heir married William, the present Lord Grenville.

2. William Pitt, Esq. of whom hereafter.

Of the daughters, Harriot was married to Sir William Corbet, of Stoke, in Shropshire, Bart.; Catharine, to Robert Needham, of Ireland, Esq.; (whose granddaughter, Miss Trollop Brown, mar

b See the Letters written to him in his youth by his uncle, Lord Chatham ; and published by Lord Grenville, 1805.

ried the present Earl of Pomfret); Ann was Maid of Honour to Queen Caroline, and Privy-purse to the late Princess Dowager of Wales; Elizabeth married John Hanbam, Esq. Barrister at Law, and died February 14th, 1770; and Mary, unmarried.

WILLIAM PITT, Esq. the younger son, FIRST EARL OF CHATHAM, served in parliament for the borough of Old Sarum, in the 9th Parliament of Great Britain, the port of Seaford in the 10th, the borough of Aldborough in the 11th, and the city of Bath in the 12th, till he was advanced to the Peerage.

In February, 1737, he was appointed a Groom of the Bed-chamber to his Royal Highness Frederick, Prince of Wales, which resigning in April, 1745, he was constituted on the 22d of February, 1746, Joint Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, and on May 6th, 1746, Treasurer and Paymaster-general of the army, and on the 28th of the same month was sworn a member of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. For his opposing the measures of the Ministry, in parliament, with an eloquence and force of reasoning seldom equalled, her Grace Sarah, late Dutchess Dowager of Marlborough, some time before, left him a legacy of ten thousand pounds; upon account, as her will expresses it, of his merit in the noble defence he has made for the support of the laws of England, and to prevent the ruin of his country. Having resigned his post of Paymaster-general of the forces, he was, on December 4th, 1756, appointed Secretary of State for the Southern department, in the room of the Right Hon. Henry Fox; which post he held until October 5th, 1761 (except the small interval from April 9th, 1757, to June 29th, the same year), with such honour to himself, such glory to the nation, and so greatly to the satisfaction of his Sovereign and the people in general, as never any Minister in this kingdom before experienced. Our successes abroad, during his patriotic administration, are too deeply engraved on the minds of his countrymen ever to be erased, or to need much mention here: let it suffice just to say, that all the officers employed through his influence, by sea and land, justified his nice and true discernment: under his auspices, Amherst and Boscawen reduced Cape Breton; Wolfe and Saunders triumphed at Quebec; Goree and Senegal were subjugated to the crown of Great Britain; the French were ruined in the East Indies, their armies defeated in Europe; Belleisle was rent from their monarchy; their coasts were insulted and ravaged, their fleets destroyed, their trade annihilated, and those ancient enemies of these kingdoms reduced to a state of bankruptcy; and that by

She died 9th February, 1781, at Kensington Gravel Pits, Middlesex.

his wise plan the Havannah was torn from the Spaniards after his resignation. Happy and united at home, abroad the English nation was everywhere feared and respected; her ensigns were displayed in the remotest regions, and her honour was advanced to a pitch never known before: the name of an Englishman was pronounced with reverence, and her sovereign's glory propagated to the furthest bounds of the earth.

On October 5th, 1761, he resigned the seals of his office of secretary of State, and they were given to Charles, late Earl of Egremont; but his Majesty, in consideration of his great and important services, was graciously pleased to direct a warrant to be prepared for ganting to the Lady Hester Pitt, his wife, a Barony of Great Britain, by the name, style, and title, of BARONESS OF CHATHAM, to herself, and of BARON OF CHATHAM, to her heirs male; and also to confer on him, the said Right Hon. William Pitt, an annuity of three thousand pounds, during his own life, and that of Lady Hester Pitt, and their son the Hon. John Pitt, Esq.

During the period in which he bore no share in the administration, his behaviour displayed an inflexible integrity, and the greatest love of his country, particularly in the famous affair of General Warrants, and that of the repeal of the American stamp act, on which he spoke with such eloquence, solid judgment, and conviction, as could not fail to silence his opponents, and to prove that the slavery of our colonies would be followed by our own destruction. At length, after many shifting and unsteady plans of administration, his Majesty, induced by a thorough knowledge of his great abilities, and the general wishes of his people, was graciously pleased again to call him to his assistance in the arduous affairs of government, and to confer new honours upon him.

On July 30th, 1766, his Majesty was pleased to grant unto him, and his heirs male, the dignities of a Viscount and Earl of Great Britain, by the name, style, and title of Viscount Pitt, of Burton Pynsent, in the county of Somerset, and EARL OF CHATHAM, in the county of Kent, and to deliver to his Lordship the custody of the privy-seal, which high office his Lordship held till November 2d, 1768, and it was the last public employment he accepted of.

For several years before his death his Lordship was so violently afflicted with the gout, that he was not only incapable of attending to his own private affairs, but was in general confined to his chamber; yet so great was his love to his country's welfare, that

VOL. V.