The Death of the Earl of Chatham The Death of the Earl of Chatham The Death of the Earl of Chatham is the title of a 1781 oil-on-canvas painting by Boston-born American artist John Singleton Copley. It depicts the collapse of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham on 7 April 1778, during a debate in the House of Lords on the American War of Independence. Chatham is surrounded by peers of the realm, and the painting contains fifty-five portraits. Lord Chatham was the architect of the British victory in the Seven Years' War (1757–1763), in which Britain won supremacy in America. Although sympathetic to American grievances and
John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham He continued to hold various ceremonial positions: he had been appointed Lieutenant Governor of Jersey and High Steward of Colchester in 1807, and in 1820 succeeded the Duke of Kent as Governor of Gibraltar. He died at his house in Charles Street, London, on 24 September 1835, aged 78. Chatham married The Hon. Mary Elizabeth Townshend, daughter of the 1st Baron Sydney, on 10 July 1783. The couple had no children. Lady Chatham died on 21 May 1821. Chatham did not remarry and, following his death, the Earldom of Chatham became extinct. John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham General John