Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/362

 ever, were suspicious, and handed him over to the collector of customs, who searched him, found the letter to Barras, and sent him up as a prisoner to the secretary of state. After a prolonged examination before the privy council he was set at liberty; but the admiralty, disapproving of his conduct, superseded him from the command of the Charon. Camelford indignantly requested that his name might be struck off the list of commanders, which was done (, Roy. Nav. Biogr. iii. 202).

For the next few years he lived principally in London, where he achieved an extraordinary notoriety by disorderly conduct. On 7 May 1799 he was fined 500l. for knocking a Mr. Humphries downstairs in a quarrel at the theatre (True Briton, 17 May 1799). On 7 Oct. 1801, when there was a general illumination in the west-end for the peace, the house in Bond Street in which Camelford lodged was by his orders left in darkness. The mob hammered at the door. Camelford rushed out and began striking the spectators right and left with a thick bludgeon. Finally, all the lower windows of the house were smashed, and he himself injured (Times, 8 Oct. 1801). Camelford afterwards entered an action against the county for the damage done by the mob (ib. 17 Oct.). The story of another quarrel and fight at the theatre in February 1804 is related by two eye-witnesses, and  [q. v.], who called next day at Camelford's lodgings in Bond Street to say that, if wanted, they were ready to give evidence that he had been assaulted. Camelford received them with great civility. ‘Over the fireplace in the drawing-room,’ they wrote, ‘were ornaments strongly expressive of the pugnacity of the peer. A long thick bludgeon lay horizontally supported by two brass hooks. Above this was placed parallel one of lesser dimensions, until a pyramid of weapons gradually arose, tapering to a horse whip’ (Rejected Addresses, ‘The Rebuilding, by R. S.’). A fortnight later, on 6 March, while in a coffee-house, he met a former friend and an admirable shot, Mr. Best, and grossly insulted him. A woman with whom Best had lived had told Camelford that Best had spoken of him in disparaging terms. The two men met next morning in the meadows to the west of Holland House, close by where Melbury Road now runs. Camelford fired first, missed his man, and fell mortally wounded by Best's return. He died on 10 March 1804.

By his will, written the night before the duel, he made a particular request that no one should be proceeded against for his death, as the quarrel was entirely of his own seeking. A verdict of wilful murder, against some person unknown, was returned at the inquest. He desired to be buried in Switzerland, at an indicated spot which he had known in his childhood. The body was accordingly embalmed and packed in a long basket, but the course of the war prevented its being taken abroad, and it was left for many years in the crypt of St. Anne's Church, Soho, probably thrust into some vault, and was eventually lost sight of (, ‘What has become of Lord Camelford's body?’ in Jilt and other Stories). He was not married, and by his death the title became extinct. Camelford is said by those who knew him personally to have been capable of better things than his misspent life seemed to promise. He read largely, and was especially devoted to the study of mathematics, chemistry, and theology, which last he took up—according to his own story—out of a desire to find matter to puzzle the chaplain of his ship. He was free with his money, generous and kind to those in trouble.



PITT, WILLIAM, first (1708–1778), statesman, was born in Westminster on 15 Nov. 1708, and was baptised at St. James's, Piccadilly, on 13 Dec. following. He was the younger son of Robert Pitt of Boconnoc in Cornwall, by his wife Harriet, younger daughter of the Hon. Edward Villiers of Dromana, co. Waterford, and grandson of Governor (1653–1726) [q. v.] He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 14 Jan. 1727. Having suffered severely from gout, he was advised to travel for the sake of his health. He therefore left the university without taking a degree, and spent some time in France and Italy. He returned to England, however, little better for the change, and continued through life subject to attack by his hereditary disease. As his means were limited, it was necessary that he should choose a profession. He decided for the army, and obtained a cornetcy in the king's own regiment of horse, otherwise known as Lord Cobham's horse, on 9 Feb. 1731. Four years later he entered parliament. At a by-election in February 1735 he succeeded his elder brother, Thomas