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
Earl of Chatham her husband had wished to remain a member of the House of Commons. Their second son was William Pitt the Younger, who became the country's youngest Prime Minister in 1783, at the age of 24. Their eldest son, John Pitt, inherited the earldom and viscountcy in 1778 and the barony in 1803. Upon his death in 1835, all three titles became extinct. The second creation of this title came in 1761 in favour of Lady Hester Pitt; the first creation was for John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll and hence the Duke of Argyll. Earl of Chatham Earl of Chatham,