Note 8 — Chapter III
Reading edition
Whether Lady Hester Stanhope was justified in entertaining expectations of the G. property and title, I am unable to say; but having by me a copy of the grant to the first Lord Chatham, it is inserted here as conclusive against her ladyship, as far as regards the pension. The circumstances were these:—the day following his (then Mr. Pitt’s) resignation of office, a pension of £3,000 a-year was settled on himself and two other lives, and at the same time a title was conferred on his lady and her issue. He resigned office Oct. 9th, 1761, and the next published Gazette announced all these transactions. The notification ran thus:—That a warrant be prepared for granting to the Lady Hester Pitt, his wife, a Barony of Great Britain, by the name, style, and title of Baroness Chatham, to her heirs male, and also to confer upon the said William Pitt an annuity of £3,000 sterling during his own life, that of Lady Hester Pitt, and her son, John Pitt. Shortly after his death, May 11th, 1778, His Majesty sent a message to the Commons thus:—George R.—His Majesty having considered the address of this house, that he will be graciously pleased to confer some signal and lasting mark of his royal favour on the family of the late William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and being desirous to comply as speedily as possible with the request of his faithful Commons, has given directions for granting to the present Earl of Chatham, and to the heirs of the body of the late William Pitt, to whom the Earldom of Chatham may descend, an annuity of £4,000 per annum, payable out of the Civil List revenue; but his Majesty, not having it in his power to extend the effects of the said grant beyond the term of his own life, recommends it to the house to consider of a proper method of extending, securing, and annexing the same to the Earldom of Chatham in such a manner as shall be thought most effectual to the benefit of the family of the said William Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
Signed “G. R.”
On May 20th, in the House of Commons, Mr. Townsend moved in a committee on the king’s message—“That the sum of £4,000 be granted to his Majesty out of the Aggregate Fund, to commence from 5th July, 1778, and be settled in the most beneficial manner upon the present Earl of Chatham and the heirs of the body of the late William Pitt, to whom the Earldom of Chatham shall descend.” The resolution was agreed to without opposition, and a bill was ordered to be brought in thereon, which passed the Commons without debate.