William Pitt, the Elder summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see William Pitt, the Elder.

William Pitt, the Elder, later 1st earl of Chatham, (born Nov. 15, 1708, London, Eng.—died May 11, 1778, Hayes, Kent), British statesman and orator, twice virtual prime minister (1756–61, 1766–68). He entered Parliament in 1735 and provoked controversy with his maiden speech, which criticized the ministry of Robert Walpole. With the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War, he was named secretary of state and became virtual prime minister. His leadership brought many British victories that greatly extended the British Empire. His wide popular appeal led to the nickname “the Great Commoner,” though he was disliked by many in government for his high-handedness. He resigned in 1761 when the cabinet refused to declare war on Spain. Although ill with gout, he became a champion of liberty and spoke in favour of American colonial resistance to the Stamp Act. He formed another government in 1766, in which he served as lord privy seal, but he resigned in 1768 because of ill health. Widely mourned on his death in 1778, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

House of Lords Summary

House of Lords, the upper chamber of Great Britain’s bicameral legislature. Originated in the 11th century, when the Anglo-Saxon kings consulted witans (councils) composed of religious leaders and the monarch’s ministers, it emerged as a distinct element of Parliament in the 13th and 14th

House of Commons Summary

House of Commons, popularly elected legislative body of the bicameral British Parliament. Although it is technically the lower house, the House of Commons is predominant over the House of Lords, and the name “Parliament” is often used to refer to the House of Commons alone. The origins of the House

prime minister Summary

Prime minister, the head of government in a country with a parliamentary or semipresidential political system. In such systems, the prime minister—literally the “first,” or most important, minister—must be able to command a continuous majority in the legislature (usually the lower house in a

English colonies in 17th-century North America

American colonies Summary

American colonies, the 13 British colonies that were established during the 17th and early 18th centuries in what is now a part of the eastern United States. The colonies grew both geographically along the Atlantic coast and westward and numerically to 13 from the time of their founding to the