Anne Grenville, Baroness Grenville (, September 1772 – June 1864) was an English noblewoman and author, and a member of the

Pitt family The Pitt family were an English aristocratic family whose members included the Earl of Chatham, Earls of Chatham, the Earl of Londonderry, Earls of Londonderry and the Baron Camelford, Barons Camelford. The family produced two British Prime Minis ...

, which at the time dominated British politics. She was

Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom To date, forty-seven women and three men have been married to a British prime minister in office. There have also been four bachelor and nine widower prime ministers; the last bachelor was Edward Heath (1970–1974) and the last widower was Ra ...

between 1806-1807.

Biography

Anne Pitt was the daughter of

Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (3 March 1737 – 19 January 1793) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 until 1784 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Camelford. He was an art connoisseur. Early life Pit ...

and his wife, Anne Wilkinson. Her granduncle was

William Pitt the Elder William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him "Chatham" or "Pitt the Elder" to distinguish him from his son ...

. She accompanied her father on a visit to Italy. While in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

she posed for '' Anne Pitt as Hebe'', a

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

by the French

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (; ; 16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), also known as Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun or simply as Madame Le Brun, was a French painter who mostly specialized in portrait painting, in the late 18th and early 19t ...

depicting her in the role of Hebe. She married then- Foreign Secretary William Wyndham Grenville, Baron Grenville, on 18 July 1792. The Grenville family was already associated with the Pitts family, through

Pitt the Elder William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him "Chatham" or "Pitt the Elder" to distinguish him from his son Wi ...

's marriage to Hester Grenville, William Grenville's aunt. Both Anne Pitt and

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and then first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, p ...

were his cousins. The union was supported by her father, Baron Camelford and Grenville's uncle, The Marquess of Buckingham, a dominant figure in the Grenville family who provided a £20,000 dowery. Grenville went on to be

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

from 1806 to 1807. In 1804, Anne Pitt inherited the considerable wealth of her brother "the half-mad Lord",

Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford Captain Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford (19 February 1775 – 10 March 1804) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who participated in the Vancouver Expedition and feuded with its leader, George Vancouver, during and after the expedition. Ear ...

, who had been killed in a duel. The inheritance amounted to £500,000 in value, including the Boconnoc House and estates in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, and Camelford House in London. Grenville died in 1834, and Anne survived him until June 1864.

Archives of her correspondence

Two archives of her correspondence exist in the British Library and in the Hampshire Archives.

Arms

References

1772 births 1864 deaths 18th-century English women writers 18th-century English letter writers 19th-century English landowners 19th-century English writers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British letter writers Daughters of barons British baronesses

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...

Spouses of prime ministers of the United Kingdom William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville {{UK-noble-stub