George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers
George Pitt, 1st Baron Rivers (1 May 1721 – 7 May 1803) was an English diplomat and politician.
Background and education
He born in Geneva, the eldest son of George Pitt of Stratfieldsaye, Hampshire, and his wife Mary Louise Bernier from Strasbourg. General Sir William Augustus Pitt was his younger brother. He was educated at Winchester and Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he graduated with MA in 1739 and DCL in 1745. He then travelled on the continent from 1740 to 1742.
Politics
In 1742, he was elected as a Member of Parliament at a by-election for Shaftesbury and sat as a Tory. At the General Election in 1747, he was returned both for Shaftesbury and for Dorset and to sit for the County, which he represented continuously until 1774, becoming an independent, supporting the government from the accession of George III.
Diplomacy
From 1761 to 1768, he served as Envoy-extraordinary and Minister-plenitpotentiary to the Kingdom of Sardinia at Turin. In 1770 he was appointed Ambassador to Spain, but was superseded the following year.[1]
Peerage
In 1776, he was raised to the peerage as Lord Rivers. In 1780, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, but was replaced in 1782, when he became a Lord of the Bedchamber. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Dorset in 1793. In 1802, be obtained a new patent as Lord Rivers with special remainder in default of male issue to the son of his daughter Louisa, William Beckford. Beckford took the surname Pitt-Rivers in 1828, on succeeding to the title and estates of his brother-in-law George Pitt, 2nd Baron Rivers.[2]
Family
In 1746, he married Penelope, daughter of Sir Henry Atkins, 4th Baronet, of Clapham, Surrey. They had four children:
- George Pitt, 2nd Baron Rivers (1751–1828)
- Hon. Penelope Pitt, married Edward Ligonier, 1st Earl Ligonier, in 1766; divorced in 1771 and married Capt. Smith in 1784
- Hon. Louisa Pitt (1754–1791), married Sir Peter Beckford (1740–1811) on 22 March 1773
- Hon. Marcia Lucy Pitt (1756–1822), married James Fox-Lane in 1789
Their marriage was unhappy and they separated in 1771, living mostly in France and Italy until her death in 1795, she was buried in the Old English Cemetery in Livorno, Italy.
Legacy
Rivers Inlet, a fjord on the Central Coast of British Columbia, was named by Captain George Vancouver for George Pitt.[3]
References
- G. F. R. Barker, ‘Pitt, George, first Baron Rivers (1721–1803)’, rev. R. D. E. Eagles, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004), accessed 24 Aug 2008.
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
- thepeerage.com/p4567.htm#i45663 ThePeerage.com
- ↑ J. Haydn, Book of Dignities (1851), 82–3.
- ↑ Burke's Peerage (1939), s.v. Rivers
- ↑ "Rivers Inlet". BC Geographical Names.
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles Ewer Peter Walter |
Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury with Peter Walter 1742–1747 |
Succeeded by Cuthbert Ellison William Beckford |
| Preceded by George Chafin Edmund Morton Pleydell |
Member of Parliament for Dorset with George Chafin 1747–1754 Humphry Sturt 1754–1774 1754–1774 |
Succeeded by George Pitt Humphry Sturt |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by James Mackenzie |
Minister at Turin 1761–1768 |
Succeeded by William Lynch |
| Preceded by Sir James Gray, Bt |
Ambassador to Spain 1770–1771 |
Succeeded by The Lord Grantham |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by the Duke of Chandos |
Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire 1780–1782 |
Succeeded by The Duke of Bolton |
| Preceded by The Earl Digby |
Lord Lieutenant of Dorset 1793–1803 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Dorchester |
| Peerage of England | ||
| New creation | Baron Rivers (of Stratfieldsaye) 1776–1803 |
Succeeded by George Pitt |
| Baron Rivers (of Sudeley) 1802–1803 | ||
|