Chatham ministry Chatham ministry The Chatham ministry was a British government led by William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham that ruled between 1766 and 1768. Because of Pitt's former prominence before his title, it is sometimes referred to as the Pitt ministry. Unusually for a politician considered to be Prime Minister, Pitt was not First Lord of the Treasury during the administration, but instead held the post of Lord Privy Seal. Pitt, who moved to the Lords as Earl of Chatham upon his accession to the ministry, was determined to form a ministry of "men, not measures," that would give office to
Earl of Godolphin Marlborough. Their only son, William Godolphin, Marquess of Blandford, was childless and predeceased both his parents. In 1735 the 2nd Earl was created Baron Godolphin, of Helston, in the Peerage of Great Britain, with remainder, in default of male issue of his own, to the male issue of his deceased uncle Henry Godolphin, Dean of St Paul's. When the 2nd Earl died in 1766, the Godolphin earldom, the Rialton viscounty, and the Godolphin barony of 1684 became extinct; but the Godolphin barony of 1735 devolved upon his cousin Francis Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin. The ancestral seat of the Godolphin family