A miniature entitled “William Pit with his Two Sons”.
(
Source)
I’ve no idea if this really is a portrait of Pitt - and if it is, who the two children are. But it’s such a sweet picture, it seems entirely appropriate to post it today, on his 253rd birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. PITT! EAT ALL THE PEACHES YOU WANT AND NO GRABBY KID WILL TAKE THEM OFF YOU TODAY.
Kudos to Stephenie W for finding this lovely thing.
If Pitt had lived…
…he might have looked a little bit like Gladstone. :D
Although for most of his political career Pitt represented the University of Cambridge, his first parliamentary seat was the pocket borough of Appleby in Westmorland. As he wrote to his mother in November 1780,
Appleby is the place I am to represent, and the election will be made (probably in a week or ten days) without my having any trouble, or even visiting my constituents.
And though he remained their MP until 1784, he never did once visit his constituents.
The market town of Appleby today:
More info here and here. Confusingly, in Pitt’s time the town was simply “Appleby”, but now its full name is Appleby-in-Westmorland, even though it’s actually in Cumbria and the county of Westmorland no longer exists.
A selection of some lesser known portraits of Pitt, taken from my Pinterest.
Top row, l-r,
1: A sketch of Pitt around the age of 17 when he was at Cambridge, artist unknown. Scanned from William Hague’s biography of Pitt.
2: A sketch of Pitt by the young Thomas Lawrence, thought to be from around 1780 when Pitt was 21. Scanned from William Hague’s biography of Pitt.
3: Mezzotint by Henry Kingsbury, 1789. Source
2nd row,
4: Study of Pitt in the manner/style of John Singleton Copley, 1790s-ish. Source
5: Aquatint by Pierre Michel Alix, after Karl Anton Hickel, 1798. Source
3rd row,
6: William Pitt by Robert Dighton, possibly 1790s. Source
7: “Ministerial Eloquence” by James Gillray, 1795. Source
Bottom row,
8: William Pitt engraved by Samuel William Reynolds after Robert Ker Porter, 1799. Source
9: Oval miniature of William Pitt, attributed to Francois Ferriere, late 18th/early 19th century. Source
10: Memorial plaque to Pitt and his father in St. Mary the Virgin church at Hayes, Kent, where Pitt was baptised. Photo by Stephenie W.
nobilior:
The gaming room of the exclusive London gentleman’s club, Brook’s. Early 19th century. By Rowlandson and Pugin.
Pitt was nominally a member, but since Brooks’s was a home from home for Charles Fox and his set, I don’t think he was seen there very often.
An intriguing theory about the death of Spencer Perceval, assassinated in 1812.
The context of Perceval’s death is intriguing. He was loathed by the public and when he died there was dancing in the streets. Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was amazed to find in pubs “savage pleasure” over the murder. A conspiracy was immediately assumed. “No one knows whether it was the sole act of this man or whether it is a plot,” wrote one London hostess in her journal. Yet history has always recorded the assassination as the act of an unhinged merchant with a grievance and a gun.
Exactly 200 years on the lone gun theory is being called into question. In a new book historian Andro Linklater argues his death was certainly a conspiracy hatched in Liverpool, a city built on slavery. So who was this forgotten PM? And why was his murder necessary?
Shades of JFK… But instead of the CIA/Mafia/Cuba, those responsible were apparently the wealthy interests behind the illegal slave trade - a trade which Perceval had severely hampered.
loquaciousconnoisseur:
A Mansion House Treat or Smoking Attitudes (S. W. Fores, 1800)
This print mocks the habits of the rich and famous. Smoking tobacco was condemned in some quarters in the 18th century. However, the production of tobacco by enslaved labour on North American plantations in particular and its sale in Europe was a major source of revenue for the British economy. On the right is Admiral Lord Nelson with Emma Hamilton, his mistress. The lewd, ‘nautical’ dialogue refers to their relationship and Emma’s elderly husband, Sir William Hamilton.
Pitt is the middle figure here. He’s about the only one not talking sexual innuendo, unless you count his use of the word “Virginia” (referring to the tobacco).
Pitt for the iGeneration. Well why not.
Sources: iPad cover; iPhone covers 1, 2.
Today is the 200th anniversary of the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval (1762-1812). He was shot in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a merchant who felt he had a grievance against the Government.
Perceval had been a firm supporter of Pitt. Though only three years younger than Pitt, he didn’t enter politics until 1796. Pitt soon noticed his debating skills, and did what he could to advance his career.
Perceval was described as being small, slight and pale. In 1790 he eloped with his wife to be, and they had thirteen children together, of whom twelve survived to adulthood.
Pic sources: 1; 2
