John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham
John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham was a British soldier, officer and politician. He spent a lengthy period in the cabinet but is best known for commanding the disastrous Walcheren Campaign of 1809.
Chatham was the eldest son of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. He was two and a half years older than his famous brother William Pitt the Younger, the future prime minister. After serving as a junior officer in the American War of Independence, he succeeded his father as Earl of Chatham in 1778. Politically he was a close supporter of his brother during the following decade, leading to his appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1788. Despite overseeing the Royal Navy's victory at the Glorious First of June in 1794, he faced criticism for his handling of the Admiralty and was demoted to the comparatively unimportant post of Lord Privy Seal. Although he continued to serve in William's cabinet, the relationship between the two brothers never fully recovered after this point.
After serving in the 1799 Helder Campaign, he was promoted to be Master General of the Ordnance in 1801. This became a key role in the next few years when a French invasion appeared imminent, and he helped oversee Britain's defences including the construction of a series of martello towers. He grew increasingly independent from his brother and did not resign from the cabinet when William Pitt left office in 1801. He held this post under Henry Addington and when his brother returned to office again in 1804. Following his brother's death in 1806, he briefly went into opposition against the Ministry of All the Talents before returning as Master General in the new Tory government of 1807. He also continued his military career, being promoted to lieutenant general and appointed to several commands in charge of home defence.
Considered on at least two occasions as a possible prime minister, Chatham rejected these approaches due to poor health of his wife. He also turned down the prospect of commanding British troops in Portugal in 1808 at the beginning of the Peninsular War, a command that instead went to Arthur Wellesley. In 1809 he did accept command of an expedition to the island of Walcheren, as part of a plan to strike at a French fleet being assembled in nearby Antwerp. Despite overseeing the largest force Britain had despatched abroad during the war, the expedition became bogged down on the island and began suffering heavy casualty rates due to disease. Chatham was recalled and was subject to an inquiry that largely placed the blame on him.
After a number of years in the political wilderness, in 1820 Chatham was made Governor of Gibraltar. Although Europe was at peace by this time, Gibraltar remained a key strategic post, and he oversaw improvements to the defences while also dealing with a difficult diplomatic relationship with neighbouring Spain which was going through a period of political turbulence.
Early life
John Pitt was born on 9 October 1756 at Hayes Place in Kent, the home of his father William Pitt. He was the second child and eldest son of Pitt and his wife Hester Grenville. In his early years, his father was Secretary of State at the height of the Seven Years' War, winning great popularity with the public due to a string of victories over the French – particularly during the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 – until his dramatic resignation in 1761. At the age of five, John became heir to a peerage when his mother was made Baroness Chatham. In 1766 his father returned to office as Prime Minister, taking the title of Earl of Chatham which John also became heir to styled as Viscount Pitt.As a child he was often in poor health, suffering frequent fevers. His parents chose not to send him to Eton, which his father had hated. Instead, he was educated at the family homes in Hayes and Burton Pynsent in Somerset by a tutor. By 1761 he had four siblings, two sisters Hester and Harriet and two brothers William and James. He was emotionally very close to his brothers and disliked whenever he was separated from them. He grew up to be something of a dandy in his dress and greatly enjoyed hunting. Already, however, despite his natural intelligence, he was beginning to show signs of laziness that were later to be sharply criticised during his political career. To the delight of his father, Pitt began showing interest in pursuing a military career.
Early career
Chatham joined the army as an ensign in the 47th Regiment of Foot on 14 March 1774. He served as aide-de-camp to General Guy Carleton in Quebec, where they made preparations to resist a planned invasion by American forces. In October 1775 he departed for London carrying dispatches, missing the Battle of Quebec that took place at the end of the year where Carleton successfully defended the city.Back in Britain, under strong family pressure, Pitt resigned his commission in early 1776 in protest against the war with America, to which his father was vehemently opposed. He became effective head of the family due to his father's ill health, and took an increasing interest in politics. It was rumoured, at one point, that he might stand for Parliament for Westminster.
He only returned to the army in March 1778, this time as a lieutenant in the 39th Foot. France had entered the American War of Independence the previous month, meaning that he was now able to serve without fighting against the Americans. He was due to sail to Gibraltar as aide-de-camp to the lieutenant governor, Colonel Robert Boyd. On 7 April he and his younger brothers were in attendance when their father rose in the House of Lords to give a speech, in which he called for defiance against the French. Shortly after finishing his speech, their father collapsed and died a few weeks later. In John Singleton Copley's painting The Death of the Earl of Chatham, Pitt is portrayed in military uniform at his father's side. His father's last words at Hayes were reputedly "Leave your dying father, and go to the defence of your country".
Having succeeded to the Earldom, Chatham spent the following year in Gibraltar before transferring to the West Indies with a newly raised regiment, the 86th Foot. By the end of 1781 he was back in Britain and in 1782 obtained a Captaincy in the London-based 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards. Although he was appointed colonel in October 1793 and major general in February 1795, Chatham does not appear to have undertaken any military duties for nearly fifteen years after the end of the War of American Independence in 1783.
Political career
Member of Parliament
For much of the 1780s and 1790s Chatham focused on a political career. As heir to his father, he was poised to be a natural leader of his political supporters, the Chathamites. However, during the years that Chatham had devoted to his military career these followers were led by Lord Shelburne and then, increasingly, by Chatham's younger brother. Known as William Pitt the Younger, to distinguish him from his father, he had entered Parliament in 1781 and the following year became Chancellor of the Exchequer. By the time Chatham returned permanently to Britain, his brother was already the dominant political figure in the family. Their youngest brother James, a Royal Navy officer, died from fever in Antigua in 1780.Already Chatham was struggling with debt, despite his inheritance, due both to his own overspending and the poor state their father had left the family finances in. Chatham often gambled and became involved in horsebreeding and racing, which turned into expensive pursuits for him. In July 1783, he married Mary, the second daughter of Thomas Townshend who had been a political ally of his father. It was a love match, rather than an arranged marriage. Mary was known as attractive and very fashionable in society, although she was to suffer from physical and mental illness throughout their marriage.
Chatham joined with Pitt and Shelburne to oppose the Fox–North coalition of 1783 but generally kept a low profile during these years. Pitt became prime minister in December 1783. Chatham supported his brother in the Lords but did not take office. In February 1784 on the way back from an event in the City of London, the brothers were attacked by a mob likely organised by supporters of their rival Charles James Fox. In the subsequent 1784 general election Pitt won a decisive victory, securing his government's future. Due to his wife's severe illness, Chatham did not consider himself able to join his brother's government for the next few years, despite rumours linking him to various posts.
First Lord of the Admiralty
In July 1788 William offered Chatham the cabinet post of First Lord of the Admiralty. 'I have had my doubts whether the public may not think this too much like monopoly,' Pitt confessed, 'but that doubt is not sufficient to counterbalance the personal comfort which will result from it and the general advantage to the whole of our system'.Pitt's cousin, William Wyndham Grenville, explained the reason for the appointment in more detail: Chatham would connect 'the department of the Admiralty with the rest of the administration, which has never yet been the case under Pitt's government, even in the smallest degree'.
In 1790, Chatham oversaw the mobilisation of the navy during the Nookta Sound Crisis with Spain. In gratitude for the successful resolution of the crisis in Britain's favour, George III wanted to award the Order of the Garter to the Prime Minister. Pitt declined the offer but suggested it be awarded to his brother instead. Chatham accepted the honour, and was immensely proud of it, incorporating the image into the design of his crest, which featured on his carriage and cutlery.
Generally, Chatham's tenure as First Lord of the Admiralty was not especially distinguished. Important reforms were shelved and Chatham soon acquired a reputation for disorganisation and laziness. Contemporaries noted 'the inconvenience attending his in bed till the day is advanced, as officers &c were kept waiting'.
During the first major campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars Chatham's Admiralty was blamed in part for the failure of the Siege of Dunkirk in 1793. Due to miscommunication between the Board of Ordnance and the Admiralty, the ships carrying siege weaponry and supplies for the besieging forces arrived two weeks late. Although in this instance Chatham does not seem to have been guilty of any neglect, his reputation was fatally compromised. A further disappointment took place during the Siege of Toulon, in which the Allies suffered a defeat. It was around this time that he earned his nickname of 'the late Lord Chatham' due to his unpunctuality.
The Admiralty was also criticised in the national press for the failure of the Royal Navy to engage in a major fleet engagement against the French during the opening months of the war until the Glorious First of June in 1794. Even this was an ambivalent victory for Chatham, as the victorious British had been unable to prevent a major convoy arriving in France from West Indies, undermining the blockade. Chatham had grown increasingly frustrated by the interference at the Admiralty by colleagues, particularly Henry Dundas.