Pitt arms: <i>Sable, a fess chequy argent and azure, between three bezants</i>. Crest: <i>A stork proper</i>. According to Mark Antony Lower: "The family of Pitt, Earl of Chatham, bore <i>Sable, a fesse chequy argent and azure between three bezants (or pieces of money)</i>, in allusion to the office the original grantee held in the Exchequer. The Fanshawes also bore chequy, &amp;c., for the same reason". (Source: Mark Antony Lower, The Curiosities of Heraldry, London, 1845, p.185<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-EEEAAAAIAAJ&amp;pg=PA185&amp;redir_esc=y#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">[1]</a>). This original grantee was John Pitt (d.1602), Clerk of the Exchequer (source: Arthur Collins, Collins's Peerage of England, Volume 7, London, 1812, pp.485-6
<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zvQ6AAAAIAAJ&amp;pg=PA485&amp;lpg=PA485&amp;dq=john+pitt+blandford&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=ljn7EvbAiU&amp;sig=ACfU3U1Jpi_Kdnc8w8ZAK-R4OB-E-IydKQ&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjmgPbN0aTlAhVEJFAKHcI_BLY4ChDoATAFegQICRAB#v=onepage&amp;q=john%20pitt%20blandford&amp;f=false">[2]</a>), a mercer from Blandford Forum in Dorset,<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup>  from whose younger son, Thomas Pitt of Blandford (father of Rev. John Pitt), the Pitts of Boconnoc were descended. The eldest son of John Pitt (d.1602) was Sir <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pitt_(courtier)" class="extiw" title="w:William Pitt (courtier)">William Pitt</a> (c.1559-1636), MP for Wareham, who founded the senior line of Pitt of <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stratfield_Saye_House&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Stratfield Saye House (page does not exist)">Stratfield Saye</a> in Hampshire, many of whose descendants served as a MP for Wareham and in 1776 acquired the title <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baron_Rivers&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Baron Rivers (page does not exist)">Baron Rivers</a>. Motto: "<i>Benigno numine</i>", meaning "With the benevolent deity" or "By the favour of the heavens".
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