Earl of Londonderry extinct on the death of his great-grandson, the fourth Earl, in 1714. The second creation came in 1726 in favour of the soldier and politician Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Londonderry. He had already been created Baron Londonderry in 1719 and was made Viscount Gallen-Ridgeway at the same time as he was granted the earldom, also in the Peerage of Ireland. He was the husband of Lady Frances Ridgeway, daughter and heiress of the fourth Earl of the first creation. A member of the prominent Pitt family, he was the uncle of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. His younger son,
John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham Chatham soon acquired a reputation for disorganisation and laziness. Contemporaries noted 'the inconvenience attending his laying in bed till the day is advanced, as officers &c were kept waiting'. During the first major campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars Chatham's Admiralty was blamed in part for the failure of the 1793 siege of Dunkirk. Due to miscommunication between the Board of Ordnance and the Admiralty, the ships carrying siege weaponry and supplies for the besieging forces arrived two weeks late. Although in this instance Chatham does not seem to have been guilty of any neglect, his reputation was fatally compromised.