Online Encyclopedia

THOMAS PITT (1653-1726)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 667 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

THOMAS PITT (1653-1726)  ,
See also:
British East India merchant and politician, usually called "
See also:
Diamond Pitt," was born at Bland-ford, Dorset, on the 5th of
See also:
July 1653 . In early
See also:
life he went to India, and from his headquarters at
See also:
Balasore he made trading journeys into
See also:
Persia and soon became prominent among those who were carrying on business in opposition to the East India
See also:
Company . Twice he was arrested by order of the company, the second time being when he reached
See also:
London in 1683, but after litigation had detained him for some years in England he returned to India and to his former career . Unable to check him the East India Company took him into its service in 1695, and in 1697 he became president of Fort St George, or
See also:
Madras . Pitt was now very zealous in defending the interests of his employers against the new East India Company, and in protecting their settlements from the attacks of the natives; in directing the commercial undertakings of the company he also appears to have been very successful . Soon, however, he had a serious
See also:
quarrel with William Fraser, a member of his council, and consequently he was relieved of his office in 1709, although he was afterwards consulted by the company on matters of importance . During his residence in India Pitt bought for about £20,000 the
See also:
fine diamond which was named after him; in 1717 he sold this to the regent of France, Philip duke of Orleans, for £8o,000 or, according to another account, for £135,000 . It is now the
See also:
property of the French government . During his former stay in England Pitt had bought a good
See also:
deal of property, including the
See also:
manor of Old Sarum, and for a short time he had represented this borough in parliament . After his final return from India in 1710 he added to his properties and again became member of parliament for Old Sarum . He died at Swallowfield near
See also:
Reading on the 28th of
See also:
April 1726 . His eldest son, Robert, was the
See also:
father of William Pitt,
See also:
earl of Chatham (q.v.); and of Thomas Pitt (d.1761), whose son became the first Lord Camelford; his second son, Thomas Pitt (c .

1688-1729), having married Frances (d . 1772), daughter of Robert Ridgeway, 4th earl of

Londonderry (d . 1714), was himself created earl of Londonderry in 1726 .

End of Article: THOMAS PITT (1653-1726)
[back]
GIUSEPPE OTTAVIO PITONI (1657-1743)
[next]
WILLIAM PITT (1759-1806)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.