Harriett (Villiers) Pitt (abt. 1682 - 1736)

Ancestors

Wife of Robert Pitt MP — married 9 Jul 1703 in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, , England

Descendants

Died Oct 1736 at about age 54 in Paris, Ile de France, France

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Biography

Harriet was born about 1675.

Harriet Villiers, married Robert Pitt,in 1703. Apparently they married in some secrecy with Robert announcing his marriage as a fait accompli in a letter to his father in December of that year

‘ You always advised me against a disreputablemarriage, which I have avoided by marrying a lady of family and character, with the approval of my mother and of Uncle CurgenvenHer fortune is but £2,000, and £1,000 more after the death of her father-in-law, Lieutenant-General Stewart. I hope I shall not be abandoned by you at a time when I have No other support but yourse since my alliance with the greatest families in England is as much to your credit, as my wife will be a comfort to you when you know her. My present happiness is altogether due to you, as it was the universal report of your good and generous character that induced Lady Grandison to give me her daughter. Her age is twenty-one ; her portrait and letter herewith speak for themselves ; and I hope to obtain some genteel employment by the intercession of her relatives.’ ^[1]

The couple initially lived at Golden Square , close to Regent Street in London but Robert purchased a house and estate called Forty Hill in Enfield where the couple settled. The couple had several children,

Children

1. Thomas, m Christian Littleton, died 1761
2. William born 15th Nov 1708 baptised St James, Piccadilly, November 15th 1708, .became Earl of Chatham
3. Harriett died 1748, married Sir William Corbett of Stoke
4. Catherine married Robert Needham
5. Anne, born 1712, became maid of honour to Queen Catherine and 'Privy purse' to Caroline Princess of Wales d 1781
6. Elizabeth Villiers , married John Hanham d 1770
7. Mary, youngest daughter died unmarried^[1]

Robert's father Thomas must have eventually become reconciled to the marriage since in 1705, he was elected with his father to parliament for the 'family seat' in the rotten borough of Old Sarum Robert continued to sit in Parliament (for Salisbury, Old Sarum a second time, and Okehampton)^[2]

After the death of Robert's father William in 1726, the couple inherited great wealth. They moved home his manor of Swallowfield in Berkshire. William was eighteen and had just started his studies at Trinity College, Oxford. Their eldest son Thomas was given £800 a year (on strict condition not to exceed it) to travel . Robert and Harriett and the rest of the family also travelled abroad in 1726, visiting Belgium, 'to see the court and a little of the country.^[1]

Robert, though was a sick man with several ailments and he died only a year after his father 1627^[3] Harriet was left a widow and according to a biography of her son William, she spent the rest of her life caring for her youngest daughter Mary. She died in Paris in October 1736^[4]

Name

Harriett Villiers

Death

21 OCT 1736 Paris^[5]

Sources

• Waters, Robert. Genealogical Memoirs of the Extinct Family of Chester of Chicheley (Robson and Sons, London, 1878) Vol. 1, Page 145
• The Quarterly Journal of the Berks Archaeological and Architectural Society (Charles Slaughter, Reading, July, 1894)

• Vol. 3,No. 6, Page 145: "On May 20th, 1727, Robert Pitt died, leaving by his wife Lady Harriet (Villiers) two sons and five daughters"

• Williams, Basil. The Life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (Longmans, Green, and Co., London, 1915) Vol. 1, Page 35
• Russell, Constance. Swallowfield And Its Owners (Longmans, Green, and Co., London, 1901) Page 220-3

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Russell: Page 220
2. ↑ The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970 PITT, Robert (?1680-1727), of Stratford, Wilts http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/pitt-robert-1680-1727
3. ↑ Hist of Parliament op cit.
4. ↑ Williams: Vol. 1, Page 35
5. ↑ Waters: Page 145