William Pitt was born in Westminster in 1708 into a wealthy family. He was the grandson of Thomas ‘Diamond’ Pitt, who had made a fortune selling a diamond he had acquired whilst Governor of Madras in India. The fortune had bought both land and parliamentary seats.

The young William Pitt was educated at Eton, which he disliked, and then Trinity College, Oxford. He finished university without receiving a degree, due to an attack of gout. He then travelled abroad, and even attended Utrecht University in the Dutch Republic.

For a career, Pitt initially chose the military, obtaining a commission in the dragoons. But he became restless in service, and was granted leave to visit France and Switzerland in 1733. In the 1734 general election, Pitt’s elder brother Thomas won two seats, only requiring one he chose to pass the other to William, and so Pitt became MP for the ‘rotten borough’ of Old Sarum.

Pitt soon made a name for himself as a gifted orator. He began to associate with the Patriotic Whig faction – men who were increasingly frustrated with Robert Walpole’s policy of stability. Throughout his parliamentary career, Pitt advocated for the expansion of the British empire, especially in North America.

In return for his opposition, Walpole had Pitt dismissed from the army, a mistake that his critics said was unconstitutional. During the late 1730s, he was one of the key advocates for war against Spain. Walpole fell in 1742 and, by 1744, many of Pitt’s allies had gained power in Pelham’s ministry, though Pitt would to have wait because of the King’s mistrust.

In 1746, Pitt was appointed to Paymaster-General. In an office that had a reputation for venality, Pitt set a model of honesty, refusing to profit. He also had his first experience of shaping government policy, witnessing the final stages of the War of the Austrian Succession.  However, disappointment came at the end, when British colonial gains were bargained away in the peace negotiations in exchange for French withdrawal from Flanders.

When the Duke of Newcastle became Prime Minister in 1754, upon the death of Pelham, Pitt became very critical. The Duke had overlooked Pitt’s influence over the House, though Pitt continued to serve as Paymaster General.

In 1754, fighting began in North America, and a British force under General Braddock was destroyed by the French and their native allies in the Pennsylvania back country. Newcastle tried to prevent a wider war, and dismissed the belligerent Pitt. But Newcastle’s diplomacy failed. In 1756, the British-held island of Menorca fell to the French, leading to Newcastle’s fall from power in November.

The King now asked the powerful Whig, the Duke of Devonshire, to be Prime Minister. Devonshire asked Pitt to be Secretary of State for the Southern Department (with a remit that included colonial policy), Pitt made a condition of his membership of the Cabinet the exclusion of Newcastle. Despite Pitt’s enormous popularity in the country, and increasing reputation as ‘the Great Commoner’, Devonshire was a reluctant leader and the government collapsed in April 1757.

By then, Newcastle and Pitt had resolved their difficulties, and the King sent for Newcastle, knowing that Pitt would be involved in any subsequent government.

Eventually the Pitt-Newcastle ministry was formed, with Newcastle bringing his political power and Pitt his oratory and strategic leadership. Newcastle focused on raising the money and running the Treasury, whilst Pitt directed military affairs.

Deals were struck with the authorities in the American colonies covering their expenses for raising military forces. This allowed the creation of large provincial forces, powerfully reinforcing the British redcoats in America already.  In late 1758, British and colonial forces seized French Fort Duquesne in Pennsylvania and the commander renamed it Fort Pitt, which, in time, became Pittsburgh.

In 1759, Pitt’s strategy came good. British forces defeated the French in India, the Caribbean, in Germany, and in Canada, where General James Wolfe’s dramatic victory at Quebec turned the tide in Britain’s favour.  In November 1759, Admiral Edward Hawke destroyed a significant part of the French fleet at Quiberon Bay, and with it, France’s hopes of ending the war by invading Britain. In 1760, Canada fell to the British entirely, and French defeat at Wandiwash confirmed that Britain would be the paramount power in India.

This marked the zenith of Pitt’s power and achievements; from this point both began to decline. In 1760, the old King George II died, to be replaced by his son George III, who disliked the Duke of Newcastle and the Whigs. Moreover, by that point the British had clearly won the war, and pressure for a negotiated peace was growing. But Pitt demanded more conquests, and when negotiations began, he took such an onerous line against France that they decided to continue fighting. Pitt now demanded a pre-emptive attack on Spain, but the Cabinet would not agree and Pitt resigned in response.

Technically, Pitt was not First Lord of the Treasury during this period (and therefore most modern resources do not consider him to have been Prime Minister), though his leadership of the government was not in doubt to his contemporaries.

But Pitt’s legacy was double edged; when war finally ended in 1763, Britain had made huge gains, but it also had huge debts. Moreover, the American colonists, whose ambitions had been restrained by the presence of the French, were increasingly irritated by taxes and laws from distant London.

During the 1760s, there would be a number of short-lived Prime Ministers, who tried to solve Britain’s post-war problems, and none were particularly successful. Pitt, from the backbenches, attacked the government ferociously. He was particularly critical of new taxes on the Americans.

In 1766, George III asked Pitt to form a government, and he accepted. Once again, he did not take the position of First Lord of the Treasury, instead choosing to be Lord Privy Seal (though history recognises him as Prime Minister at this time). He also made a key mistake, accepting a peerage and becoming the Earl of Chatham in 1766, which resulted in him losing both his popularity and his influence in the Commons.

Chatham’s government was not particularly purposeful, with Cabinet having little unity. Peacetime government was very different to wartime. Pitt did not have the subtle personal skills that Prime Ministers so often need.  Nor did it help that he could be prickly, querulous, and arrogant. He had few friends, and he talked of nothing but politics to even his closest allies.

Chatham did attempt to change British policy in the American colonies, and in India, looking at reducing the power of the East India Company over Britain’s recent conquests. But, he was not able to effect any major changes.

Chatham’s health had never been good, and, during his premiership, he was often afflicted with gout and was ill with depression for weeks on end. Over 1767-68, he ceased to give any direction to the government due to illness, and they passed a damaging Revenue Act in his absence which further inflamed tensions in America. From early 1767 Grafton effectively ran the government, even though Chatham remained Prime Minister until October the following year.

Out of power, Chatham’s health recovered, and he continued to speak in the Lords. He passionately advocated on behalf of the American colonists and called for concessions. In March 1777, he warned Parliament that conquering America was impossible, though he did not consent to American independence. In April 1778 he collapsed whilst delivering a speech in the House of Lords. He died a month later.

Pitt married Hester Grenville in 1754. They had five children, including William Pitt the Younger, who became Prime Minister five and a half years after his father’s death.

Pitt was immensely popular with the American colonists and there are many places in eastern North America named either Pitt or Chatham in his honour. The most significant of all is the city of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.