George Pitt (died 1745) of

Shroton Iwerne Courtney (), also known as Shroton, is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies approximately north-west of Blandford Forum. It is sited by the small River Iwerne between Hambledon Hill to the south-west and the ...

, Dorset and Strathfieldsaye, Hampshire, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1715 and 1727. Stratfield Saye House Pitt was born after 1691, the eldest son of George Pitt of Strathfieldsaye, Hampshire, and his first wife Lucy Pile, daughter of Thomas Pile of Baverstock, Wiltshire. and Shroton, Dorset. By 1721, he had married Mary Louisa Bernier, daughter of John Bernier of Strasburg, in Alsace. His mother had died on 17 November 1697 and in 1714 he succeeded to the Dorset estates of his maternal grandfather. Pitt was returned as a Tory

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Wareham on his family interest at a by-election on 18 April 1715 after his father, elected at the

1715 British general election The 1715 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the 1707 merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In October 1714, soon afte ...

, chose to sit for Hampshire instead. Like his father, he refused to sign the loyal association in December 1715. He voted against the septennial bill in 1716, but was absent from the divisions on the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts and the

Peerage Bill {{short description, Proposed British law of 1719 The Peerage Bill was a 1719 measure proposed by the British Whigs (British political party), Whig government led by James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland whic ...

in 1719. At the

1722 British general election The 1722 British general election elected members to serve in the House of Commons of the 6th Parliament of Great Britain. This was the fifth such election since the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Tha ...

, he lost his seat at Wareham. He appears to have changed sides as he defeated the Tory, Thomas Horner, at a by-election for

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

on 25 January 1727, with the help of Bubb Dodington, who described him as ‘scarcely capable’. Before the

1727 Events January–March * January 1 – (December 21, 1726 O.S.) Spain's ambassador to Great Britain demands that the British return Gibraltar after accusing Britain of violating the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Britain ...

later in the year, Richard Edgcumbe reported to Walpole that Pitt had changed sides again and Pitt did not stand at the election. Pitt separated from his wife according to a petition of his brother-in-law, Henry Bernier, supported by an affidavit of Mary Louisa Pitt, dated 21 March 1730. It claimed she ‘was forcibly abducted from London by her husband,... and kept locked up at ... at Melcombe, in Dorset. Pitt succeeded his father to Strathfieldsaye in 1735. He died in October 1745 leaving four sons and two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitt, George Year of birth missing 1745 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1727–1734