Robert Pitt was a British

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 who sat as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Old Sarum

Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency)

Old Sarum was the most infamous of the so-called 'rotten boroughs', a parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which was effectively controlled by a single person, until it was abolished under the Reform Act 1832. The constituency was the site of what had been...

 from 1705, a pocket borough controlled by his family. 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

Regent Diamond

The Regent Diamond is a diamond which is on display in the Louvre. In 1698, a slave found the 410 carat uncut diamond in a Golkonda mine, more specifically Paritala-Kollur Mine in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India and concealed it inside of a large wound in his leg. An English sea captain stole...

 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

Tory

Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

 possibly partly in resistance to his domineering Whig father.

Robert Pitt is best known for being the father of William Pitt the Elder, a British statesmen who led the country three times between 1756–57, 1757–62 and 1766–68. Another son Thomas Pitt

Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc

Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc was the Lord Warden of the Stannaries until 1751, when the Cornish Stannary Parliament last met. He was the grandson and namesake of the better known Thomas Pitt, and the son of Robert Pitt and elder brother of William Pitt the Elder...

 was also an MP who sat for Okehampton

Okehampton (UK Parliament constituency)

Okehampton was a parliamentary borough in Devon, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in 1301 and 1313, then continuously from 1640 to 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...

. He was also brother-in-law

Brother-in-law

A brother-in-law is the brother of one's spouse, the husband of one's sibling, or the husband of one's spouse's sibling.-See also:*Affinity *Sister-in-law*Brothers in Law , a 1955 British comedy novel...

 to General James Stanhope, through his sister Lucy Pitt. His grandson William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...

 became Prime Minister in 1783.

Pitt inherited the family estate of Boconnoc

Boconnoc

Boconnoc is a civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom, approximately four miles east of Lostwithiel. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 121.The parish is rural in character and is fairly well wooded...

following his father's death in 1726. However, he died the next year and the estate passed entirely to his son Thomas Pitt.