Chatham

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF, an English statesman, the son of Robert Pitt of Boconnoc, in Cornwall; born Nov. 15, 1708, and educated at Eton and Oxford. He entered Parliament and soon attracted notice as a powerful opponent of Walpole. In spite of the King's dislike Pitt was powerful enough to win a place in the administration (1746). In 1756 he became Secretary of State and real head of the government. Dismissed in 1757 on account of his opposition to the King's Hanoverian policy, no stable administration could be formed without him, and he returned to power the same year in conjunction with the Duke of Newcastle. It was under this administration and entirely under the inspiration of Pitt that Great Britain rose to a place among the nations she had not before occupied. Wolfe and Clive, both stimulated and supported in their great designs by Pitt, won Canada and India from the French, and the support the Great Commoner gave Frederick of Prussia contributed not a little to the destruction of French predominance in Europe. The accession of George III. br brought Lord Bute into power, and Pitt, disagreeing with Bute, resigned in 1761. In 1766 he strongly advocated conciliatory measures toward the American colonies, and undertook the same year to form an administration, he going to the House of Lords as Earl of Chatham. But the ministry was not a success, and in 1768 he resigned. After this his principal work was his unsuccessful appeals for a conciliatory policy toward the colonies. Chatham died May 11, 1778.