{{Short description|British noblewoman (1720–1803)}} {{Redirect|Countess of Chatham|the wife of her son, the 2nd Earl|Mary Pitt, Countess of Chatham}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use British English|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox noble|relative | honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Countess of Chatham | image = Hester (nee Grenville) Countess of Chatham (1721-1803).jpg | caption = Portrait by [[William Hoare]], {{Circa|1766}} | birth_name = Hester Grenville | birth_date = {{birth date|1720|11|8|df=y}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1803|4|9|1720|11|8|df=y}} | death_place = [[Burton Pynsent]], Somerset, England | resting_place = [[Westminster Abbey]] | nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] --> | spouse = {{marriage|[[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|The Earl of Chatham]]|16 October 1754|11 May 1778|reason=died}} | parents = {{ubl|[[Richard Grenville (1678–1727)|Richard Grenville]]|[[Hester Grenville, 1st Countess Temple]]}} | issue = {{ubl|[[Hester Stanhope, Viscountess Mahon]]|[[John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham]]|Lady Harriet Eliot|[[William Pitt the Younger]]|Hon James Charles Pitt}} }}
'''Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham''' ({{nee|'''Grenville'''}}; 8 November 1720 – 9 April 1803) was the wife of [[William Pitt the Elder]], 1st Earl of Chatham, who was [[prime minister of Great Britain]] from 1766 to 1768.{{sfn|Cokayne|p=143}}
The sister of [[George Grenville]], who was prime minister from 1763 to 1765, she was also the mother of Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger]] and a niece of the noted [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]] politician [[Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham]], who had served as her husband's mentor.
Chatham and [[Elizabeth Grenville]], her sister-in-law, are the only two women in British history to have been both the wife of a prime minister and the mother of another prime minister.
==Early life== Born on 8 November 1720 in London, she was the only daughter of [[Richard Grenville (1678–1727)|Richard Grenville]] and [[Hester Grenville, 1st Countess Temple]].{{sfn|Cokayne|p=143}}
==Marriage== At 34, Lady Hester married [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] politician [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]] on 16 November 1754 at her home in [[Argyle Street, London]], by [[Francis Ayscough]] under special licence.{{sfn|Cokayne|p=143}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Basil|author-link=Basil Williams (historian)|title=The Life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofwilliampi01will/page/246/mode/2up|volume=1|year=1915|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co|page=247|chapter=VIII: Gloom and Sunshine}}</ref> They had five children:
* [[Hester Stanhope, Viscountess Mahon|Lady Hester Pitt]] (19 October 1755{{snd}}20 July 1780), who married [[Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope|Viscount Mahon]], later the 3rd [[Earl Stanhope]], on 19 December 1774; three children, including the traveler and Arabist [[Lady Hester Stanhope]]. * [[John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham]] (9 October 1756 – 24 September 1835), who married [[Mary Pitt, Countess of Chatham|The Hon. Mary Townshend]]; no issue. * Lady Harriet Pitt (18 April 1758 – 1786),<ref>''The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741-1760''. 10 May 1758.</ref> who married [[Edward James Eliot|The Hon. Edward James Eliot]], oldest son of the [[Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot|1st Baron Eliot]], in 1785; one child. *[[William Pitt the Younger|Hon. William Pitt the Younger]] (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806), who also served as prime minister; never married. *Hon. James Charles Pitt (1761{{snd}}13 November 1780), [[Royal Navy]] officer and died in [[Antigua]]; never married.
On 4 December 1761, she was created "Baroness Chatham", of [[Chatham, Medway|Chatham]], in the County of [[Kent]]", with remainder to her sons by William Pitt. Her husband was created [[Earl of Chatham]] in 1766.
==References== {{reflist}}
===Sources=== {{refbegin}} * {{citation |first=George |last=Cokayne |author-link=George Cokayne |display-authors=etal |title=[[The Complete Peerage]] |volume=III}} * {{Cite ODNB |first=Ruth M. |last=Larsen |id=89688|title=Pitt [née Grenville], Hester, countess of Chatham and suo jure Baroness Chatham}} {{refend}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}} *{{citation |first=Darryl |last=Lundy |title=Person Page |url=http://thepeerage.com/p1251.htm#i12505 |access-date=5 March 2017}}
{{s-start}} {{s-reg|uk}} {{s-new|creation}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Baroness Chatham]]|years=1761–1803}} {{s-aft|after=[[John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham|John Pitt]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Spouses of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatham, Hester Pitt, Countess of}} [[Category:1720 births]] [[Category:1803 deaths]] [[Category:18th-century English women]] [[Category:19th-century English people]] [[Category:19th-century English women]] [[Category:Nobility from London]] [[Category:Barons in the Peerage of Great Britain]] [[Category:British baronesses]] [[Category:British countesses by marriage]] [[Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey]] [[Category:Daughters of British earls]] [[Category:Grenville family|Hester]] [[Category:Hereditary peeresses of Great Britain created by George III]] [[Category:Spouses of prime ministers of Great Britain]] [[Category:Pitt family|Hester]] [[Category:Parents of prime ministers of Great Britain]] [[Category:Parents of prime ministers of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham]]