Background
He was the eldest son of Governor Thomas "Diamond" Pitt, a businessman who had made a fortune while in India.
He was the eldest son of Governor Thomas "Diamond" Pitt, a businessman who had made a fortune while in India.
Governor Pitt built the family"s wealth on his acquisition of the Pitt Diamond which he then sold on for a large profit. The diamond was brought into Britain in the heel of Robert Pitt"s boot. Unlike the rest of his family, who were Whigs, Robert Pitt became a Tory possibly partly in resistance to his domineering Whig father.
Pitt married Harriet Villiers, the daughter of Edward Villiers-Fitzgerald and the Irish heiress Katherine Fitzgerald.
Robert Pitt is best known for being the father of William Pitt the Elder, a British statesmen who led the country three times between 1756-1757, 1757-1762 and 1766-1768. Another son Thomas Pitt was also an Member of Parliament who sat for Okehampton.
Pitt inherited the family estate of Boconnoc following his father"s death in 1726.
1st Parliament of Great Britain. 2nd Parliament of Great Britain. 3rd Parliament of Great Britain.
4th Parliament of Great Britain.
6th Parliament of Great Britain. 5th Parliament of Great Britain.