{{Short description|British politician}} {{for|the English physician|Robert Pitt (physician)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} '''Robert Pitt''' (1680 – 21 May 1727) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1727. He was the father and grandfather of two prime ministers, William Pitt the elder and William Pitt the younger.
==Early life== Pitt was the eldest son of Governor Thomas 'Diamond' Pitt, a businessman who had made a fortune while in India.<ref>Black pp. 1–5</ref> Governor Pitt built the family's wealth on his acquisition of the Pitt Diamond which he then sold on for a large profit. The diamond was brought into Britain in the heel of Robert Pitt's boot.<ref>Brown pp. 15–16</ref> In 1704, Pitt married Harriet Villiers,<ref>{{cite web|title=Lady Harriet Villiers (I3347)|url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/auden/cgi-bin/auden/individual.php?pid=I3347&ged=auden-bicknell.ged|publisher=University of Stanford}}</ref> the daughter of Edward Villiers-FitzGerald and the Irish heiress Katherine FitzGerald.
==Political career== In 1705 Pitt was returned as Member of Parliament for Old Sarum, a pocket borough controlled by his family. He retained the seat at the 1708 general election, but in 1710 was not put forward by his father and was returned instead on his own account as MP for Salisbury. He came third in the poll at Salisbury at the 1713 general election but his father then put him up at Old Sarun again where he was returned.<ref name = HOP>{{cite web| url = http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/pitt-robert-1680-1727| title= PITT, Robert (c.1680-1727), of Golden Square, London; Forty Hall, Forty Hill, nr. Enfield, Mdx.; and Mawarden Court, Stratford sub Castle, Wilts.| publisher= History of Parliament Online (1690-1715)| accessdate = 18 August 2018}}</ref> At the 1715 general election Pitt stood for Parliament at Old Sarum and Salisbury but was only returned for Old Sarum. At the 1722 general election he stood at Old Sarum and Okehampton, and chose to take the seat at Okehampton, where he remained until his death.<ref name = HOP2>{{cite web| url = http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/pitt-robert-1680-1727 | title= PITT, Robert (?1680-1727), of Stratford, Wilts.| publisher= History of Parliament Online (1715-1754)| accessdate = 18 August 2018}}</ref> Unlike the rest of his family, who were Whigs, Robert Pitt became a Tory possibly partly in resistance to his domineering Whig father.<ref>Brown p. 17</ref> ==Death and family== thumb|Boconnoc House, Cornwall Pitt inherited the family estate of Boconnoc following his father's death in 1726. However, he died the next year. He left two sons and five daughters. His elder son Thomas Pitt was also an MP who sat for Okehampton and the Pitt estate passed entirely to him. His second son was William Pitt the Elder, a British statesmen who led the country three times in 1756–57, 1757–1762 and 1766–1768. His daughter Harriott married William Corbet. His other daughter Catherine married Robert Nedham.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=NEDHAM, Robert (?1703-62), of Howbery Park, Oxon. and Mourne Park, co Down. {{!}} History of Parliament Online |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/nedham-robert-1703-62 |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org |archive-date=17 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240417110837/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/nedham-robert-1703-62 |url-status=dead }}</ref> His grandson William Pitt the Younger became Prime Minister in 1783. Pitt was also brother-in-law to General James Stanhope, through his sister Lucy Pitt.
==References== <references/>
==Bibliography== * Black, Jeremy. ''Pitt the Elder''. Cambridge University Press, 1992. * Brown, Peter Douglas. ''William Pitt, Earl of Chatham: The Great Commoner''. Allen & Unwin, 1978.
{{s-start}} {{s-par|en}} {{succession box | before=William Harvey<br />Charles Mompesson | title=Member of Parliament for Old Sarum | with=Charles Mompesson | years=1705–1707 | after=''Parliament of Great Britain''}} {{s-par|gb}} {{succession box | before=''Parliament of England'' | title=Member of Parliament for Old Sarum | with=Charles Mompesson 1707–1708 | with2=William Harvey 1708–1710 | years=1707–1710 | after=Thomas Pitt<br />William Harvey}} {{succession box | before=Robert Eyre<br />Charles Fox | title=Member of Parliament for Salisbury | with=Charles Fox | years=1710–1713 | after=Charles Fox<br />Richard Jones}} {{succession box | before=Thomas Pitt<br />William Harvey | title=Member of Parliament for Old Sarum | with=Thomas Pitt 1713–1716, 1722 | with2=Sir William Strickland 1716–1722 | years=1713–1722 | after=Thomas Pitt<br />George Morton Pitt}} {{succession box | before=Christopher Harris<br />William Northmore | title=Member of Parliament for Okehampton | with=John Crowley | years=1722–1727 | after=William Northmore<br />Thomas Pitt}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitt, Robert}} Category:1680 births Category:1727 deaths Category:British MPs 1707–1708 Category:British MPs 1708–1710 Category:British MPs 1710–1713 Category:British MPs 1722–1727 Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Category:English MPs 1705–1707 Category:British MPs 1713–1715 Category:British MPs 1715–1722 Robert Category:Parents of prime ministers of Great Britain Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Okehampton Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Old Sarum