THE PITT FAMILY OF BLANDFOBD ST. MARY. 173 



seen and identified, with others, during the restoration in 

 1863. He left two sons, Thomas and Bidgway, who each 

 in turn became earls, and are also buried at St. Mary's. 

 Neither left issue, and the earldom in that family became 

 extinct. 



The family property at Blandford St. Mary and on the 

 other side of the Stour descended with the Cornish and other 

 estates to the head of the family. On the death of Robert 

 Pitt, who held office in the household of the Prince of Wales, 

 all passed to his eldest son, Thomas the brother of Lord 

 Chatham. He died in 1761 shortly after the accession of 

 George III. and before the first resignation of his great States- 

 man brother. He was succeeded by his eldest son, also 

 Thomas Pitt, who took an important part in the business of 

 the House of Commons, and is mentioned on various occasions 

 in the public life of his most distinguished cousin, William 

 the great Prime Minister. In 1782 we find him opposing 

 a motion for Parliamentary reform, introduced by the Prime 

 Minister, on the ground that the motion was inadequate 

 and too vague and not from any opposition on principle, 

 though the existence of the pocket-boroughs, of which he 

 was one of the largest owners, was notoriously at stake. In 

 the following year a similar motion was brought forward, 

 and he gave it strong support, referring pointedly to his own 

 position and adding that he was willing to surrender Old 

 Sarum into the hands of the Parliament " as a free sacrifice, 

 and a victim to be offered up at the shrine of the British 

 Constitution." He suggested further that the right to send 

 two members might well be transferred to the Bank of Eng- 

 land surely an odd suggestion. The resolution was defeated 

 by 293 votes to 149, but the part taken by the Pitt family 

 in the question of Reform is of special interest. Within 

 two years after this debate the King consented to the creation 

 of some new peerages at the request of his Minister, and two 

 of them went to Cornish gentlemen. Thomas Pitt was 

 created Lord Camelford, and Edward Eliot became Lord 

 St. Germans. 



