Birth of William Pitt- Early signs of great promise - Feeble health in boyhood Education- At seventeen admitted M.A. at Cambridge - Study of Elocution - Death of his father - Economical habits — Entered at Lincoln's Inn - Attends Parliamentary debates - Introduction to Fox-Called to the Bar-Joins the Western Circuit M.P. for Appleby.
WILLIAM PITT the elder, best known by his subsequent title as Earl of Chatham, married in 1754 Lady Hester Grenville, only daughter of Hester, in her own right Countess Temple. William Pitt, their second son, was born on the 28th of May, 1759, at Hayes, near Bromley, in Kent.
The house and grounds of Hayes, which had been purchased by Lord Chatham, were disposed of by his eldest son some years after his decease. So far as can be judged at present, the house has been but little altered since his time. The best bedroom is still pointed out as the apartment in which William Pitt was born; it is most probably also the apartment in which his father died.