Chatham, WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF, sometimes styled PITT THE ELDER, one of the greatest English orators and statesmen of the 18th century, was the younger son of a country gentleman, Robert Pitt of Boconnoc, in Cornwall, and was born November 15, 1708. After an education at Eton and Oxford, he travelled on the Continent, and on his return obtained a cornetcy in the Blues. In 1735 he entered parliament for Old Sarum—that synonym for electoral corruption—a borough then belonging to his family. He espoused the side of Frederick, Prince of Wales, then at deadly feud with the king, and offered as the leader of a number of young discontented Whigs known as the 'Patriots' a determined opposition to Walpole, who was at the head of affairs. He was deprived of his commission in consequence—an insult and injury which only increased the vehemence of his denunciations of the court and the government. His influence, both in and out of the House of Commons, increased rapidly; and Walpole being driven from power in 1742, the king, notwithstanding his hatred of Pitt, found it necessary, four years later, to allow of his admission to a subordinate place in the Broad Bottom administration; subsequently he was appointed to the lucrative office of paymaster-general. The Duchess of Marlborough, pleased with his patriotism and powers of oratory, left him £10,000; and later, Sir William Pynsent, struck with similar admiration, left him his whole property, amounting to some £3000 a year, and including what became the family place of the Pitts in Somersetshire. In 1755, when Henry Fox (afterwards Lord Holland) was made secretary of state, finding himself opposed to the foreign policy of the new minister, Pitt resigned office as paymaster. In the following year, when the king, unwillingly acceding to popular demands, had to dismiss Fox, Pitt became nominally secretary of state, but was virtually premier. He immediately began to put into execution his own plan of carrying on the war with France, and inaugurating a brilliantly successful foreign policy. He raised the militia and strengthened the naval power; but the king's old enmity and German predilections led him to oppose Pitt's policy, who thereupon resigned office in April 1757, but was recalled in June, in obedience to the loud demands of the people.
Now firmly established in power, Pitt's war policy was characterised by unusual vigour and sagacity. Success returned to the British arms. French armies were beaten everywhere by Britain and her allies—in India, in Africa, in Canada, on the Rhine—and British fleets drove the few French ships they did not capture or destroy from almost every sea. But the prime mover of all these brilliant victories found himself compelled to resign (1761), when, on the accession of George III., and owing to the influence of Lord Bute, an attempt was made to introduce a vacillating policy into the government; his immediate cause of resignation being the refusal of the majority of the cabinet to declare war with Spain, which Pitt, foreseeing as imminent, wished to commence before the Spaniards were thoroughly prepared. As some recompense for his important services Pitt received a pension of £3000 a year; and his wife, sister of George Grenville, was created Baroness Chatham. Until 1766 Pitt remained out of office, not offering a factious opposition to government, but employing all his eloquence to defeat some of its most obnoxious measures. In that year he received the royal commands to form a ministry. He undertook the task, choosing for himself—to the astonishment of the public, and the sacrifice, to a considerable extent, of his popularity—the almost sinecure office of Privy Seal, with a seat in the House of Lords as Viscount Pitt and Earl of Chatham. Ill-health prevented Chatham from taking any active part in this ministry, of which he was nominally the head, and which was weak and embarrassed throughout, and he resigned in 1768, to hold office no more. He did not, however, cease to take an interest in public affairs. He spoke strongly against the arbitrary and harsh policy of government towards the American colonies, and warmly urged an amicable settlement of the differences. But when, America having entered into treaty with France, it was proposed by the Duke of Richmond to remove the ministers, and make peace on any terms, ill though he was, Chatham came down to the House of Lords, 7th April 1778. In a few faltering words he protested against the implied prostration of Britain before the Bourbons, and declared that war, with whatever issue, would be preferable to the proposed terms of peace. This address secured a majority against the motion, and the war was continued. But it was the orator's last effort; for, exhausted by speaking, on rising again to reply to a query addressed to him by the Duke of Richmond, his physical powers suddenly failed, he fell back into the arms of his friends, and was carried by his second son, William, less than five years later himself prime-minister, from the House. He died May 11, 1778. He was honoured with a public funeral in Westminster Abbey, where a statue was also erected to his memory at the public expense; and in addition, government voted £20,000 to pay his debts, and conferred a pension of £4000 a year on his descendants. Chatham's personal appearance was dignified and imposing, and combined with a voice of the most magnificent compass, added greatly to the attractions of his oratory, which was of the most powerful kind. It is said that even his whispers were, when he pleased, distinctly heard outside the House in the lobby. His upright and irreproachable character demanded the admiration of his enemies; but his affectedness and haughtiness not unfrequently disgusted his friends, and pride rather than principle seems to have actuated his course at some important conjunctures of his life. He had, however, an intense love of country; the grand object of his ambition being to make his native land safe against all contingencies, and powerful among nations. See his Life by F. Thackeray (2 vols. 1827), and his Correspondence (4 vols. 1838-40).