A state funeral for William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt from Memoirs of George IV by Robert Huish (1830)
Death in service
William Pitt the Younger died on 23 January 1806 at the age of 46. At the time of his death he was serving as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer simultaneously! He was acting as Prime Minister, although there was no formal recognition of the post at this time. 1
He had suffered from ill health for some years, and the strain of leading the government during a time of war proved too much for his constitution.
The notice of his death in The Gentleman’s Magazine for January cites the war as hastening his demise and records that the House of Commons voted that he should be given a public funeral:
23 At his house at Putney, Surrey, in his 47th year, the Right Hon William Pitt, first lord of the Treasury, chancellor of the Exchequer, a lord of trade and plantations, a commissioner for the affairs of India, constable of Dover castle, warden, keeper, and admiral of the Cinque Ports, master of the Trinity-house, governor of the Charter-house, high steward of, and MP for, the University of Cambridge, and FRS. 2
He was a delicate constitution, and had long been complaining. The illness which he had in the Summer of 1802 shook him very much; and he does not appear to have afterwards effectually recovered from it; and that illness which was the immediate cause of his death originated in an extreme debility, brought on by excessive anxiety and unwearied attention to business. By this debility his whole nervous system was so deranged that, for weeks together, he was unable to sleep; and this privation of rest augmented the cause, so as to lead to a general breaking-up of his constitution.
An hereditary gout completed the whole, producing, according to its ordinary effect on a debilitated system, water in the chest, and such a weakness of stomach that he could neither admit nor retain sustenance.
The unfortunate issue of the war on the Continent, no doubt, contributed largely to hasten his death; and the failure of a plan for the deliverance of Europe, which his genius had formed and matured, must have been to him a source of great anxiety and mortification. By a solemn vote of the House of Commons (on the 27th instant), he is to have a public funeral and monument in Westminster Abbey (and no man ever better deserved it), at the national expense. 3
Laying in state
On Thursday 20 and Friday 21 February, Pitt’s body lay in state in the Painted Chamber in the Palace of Westminster and was visited by crowds of people:
The Gentleman’s Magazine reported:
February 20: This and the following day the remains of Mr Pitt lay in state in the Painted Chamber, when treat crowds obtained admittance. The apartment was covered with black cloth, and lighted with near 200 wax lights. The body was placed under a canopy decorated with the escutcheons of the family. 4
State funeral
The public funeral was held on Saturday 22 February:
This morning, at 10, the Nobility and Gentry, in mourning, without weepers, and with mourning swords; the Knights of the several Orders wearing their respective Collars; and the Naval and Military Officers in their full uniforms, with crape round their arms and hats, assembled in the Rooms prepared for their reception near the Painted Chamber; and, about one, the Procession, being marshalled, proceeded as follows… 5
The Chief Mourner was Pitt’s brother, the Earl of Chatham.
The body, covered with a black velvet Pall, adorned with Eight Escocheons of the Arms of the Deceased.
Four supporters of the Pall, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Dukes of Beaufort, Rutland, and Montrose.
The four Bannerolls of the Family Lineage, carried by the Master of the Rolls, Sir W Scott, Right Hon W Dundas, and Right Hon Sir E Nepean.
Garter Principal King of Arms, supported by two Gentleman Ushers.
Chief Mourner, Earl of Chatham, with his Train-bearer, Sir W Bellingham, bart, supported by the Earl of Westmoreland and Earl Camden.
Six Assistant Mourners, Marquisses of Abercorn and Wellesley, Earl of Euston, Earl Bathurst, Viscount Lowther, and Lord Grenville.
Norroy King of Arms, supported by two Gentleman Ushers.
Banner of Emblems, borne by Hon Spencer Percival, supported by Right Hon George Canning, and Right Hon George Rose. 6
The funeral was held at Westminster Abbey and was attended by the Dukes of Cambridge, Cumberland and York and many members of both Houses of Parliament.
Westminster Abbey from The Microcosm of London volume 3 (1808-10)
Rachel Knowles writes faith-based Regency romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew, who co-writes this blog.
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Notes
For more information on the evolution of the term 'Prime Minister', see the Number 10 website.
FRS stands for Fellow of the Royal Society.
The Gentleman's Magazine (January 1806).
The Gentleman's Magazine (February 1806).
Ibid.
Ibid.
Sources used include:
Ackermann, Rudolph and Pyne, William Henry, The Microcosm of London or London in miniature Volume 2 (Rudolph Ackermann 1808-1810, reprinted 1904)
The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle (E Cave, 1806, London)
