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,
The Death of the Earl of Chatham my Lords, this nation is no longer what it was! Shall a people, that seventeen years ago was the terror of the world, now stoop so low as to tell its ancient inveterate enemy, take all we have, only give us peace? It is impossible! ...My Lords, any state is better than despair. Let us at least make one effort; and if we must fall, let us fall like men! After delivering this speech Chatham suddenly pressed his hand to his heart and fell back in a swoon. The Duke of Cumberland, Lord Temple and other peers, along with Chatham's