Earl of Chatham Earl of Chatham Earl of Chatham, in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1766 for William Pitt the Elder on his appointment as Lord Privy Seal, along with the subsidiary title Viscount Pitt, of Burton Pynsent in the County of Somerset, also in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first Earl's wife, the former Lady Hester Grenville, daughter of the 1st Countess Temple, had earlier been created Baroness Chatham, of Chatham in the County of Kent, also in the Peerage of Great Britain, in 1761, as at that stage
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham "destroying all party distinctions". Pitt made appointments based not on connections but on merit, such as Charles Townshend to the Exchequer and Shelburne as Secretary of State, to order American affairs. Pitt chose for himself the office of Lord Privy Seal, which required his elevation to the House of Lords, and on 4 August he became Earl of Chatham in the county of Kent and Viscount Pitt of Burton Pinsent in the county of Somerset. Pitt's decision to accept a peerage was likely influenced by his declining health and desire for a less demanding role, but the "great commoner" lost