PITT, George (?1663-1735), of Strathfieldsaye, Hants.

George Pitt was descended from Sir William Pitt (d.1636), of a Dorset family, M.P. Wareham 1621-5, whose younger brother, Thomas Pitt of Blandford, Dorset, was ancestor of the great Pitts.Hutchins, Dorset, iv. 90. Sir William’s son Edward, George’s grandfather, bought Strathfieldsaye from the Dabridgecourts in 1629.VCH Hants iv. 59. In addition to this estate, George Pitt inherited valuable colliery interests in north Durham, which had been acquired by his father in 1686.E. Hughes, N. Country Life in 18th Cent. 163, 167. For many years he was closely associated with his kinsman, Governor Thomas Pitt, who entrusted him with ‘paternal authority’ over his children in 1706 and with the custody of the famous Pitt diamond in 1710. Returned for Wareham and Hampshire in 1715, each of which he had represented in alternate Parliaments under Anne, he opted to sit for the county, leaving Wareham for his son George. A Tory, he voted against the Administration in all recorded divisions, refusing to sign the loyal association in December 1715. Returned by Robert Pitt for Old Sarum in 1726,HMC Fortescue, i. 22, 33, 43, 56, 61, 78. he did not stand again, dying 28 Feb. 1735.