John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham
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General The Right Honourable The Earl of Chatham KG PC |
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|---|---|
John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham
after John Hoppner, 1799 |
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| Lord President of the Council | |
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In office 21 September 1796 – 30 July 1801 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Mansfield |
| Succeeded by | The Duke of Portland |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 October 1756 Hayes, Kent, England |
| Died | 24 September 1835 (aged 78) London, England |
| Awards | Order of the Garter |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
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| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1774–1835 |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | |
American War of Independence
French Revolutionary Wars
General John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, KG PC (9 October 1756 – 24 September 1835) was a British soldier and politician. He 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.
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, but resigned his commission in 1776 in protest against the war with America, to which his father was vehemently opposed. He only returned to the army in March 1778, this time as a lieutenant in the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot. He was due to sail to Gibraltar as aide-de-camp to the lieutenant governor, Colonel Robert Boyd, when his father collapsed mid-speech in the House of Lords and died shortly after.
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.
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