William Pitt Canning RN (1802 - 1828)

Born Sep 1802 in Conduit Street, Mayfair, London, England

Ancestors

Died 25 Sep 1828 at about age 26 in Funchal, Madeira

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Biography

Capt. the Hon. William Pitt Canning, 2nd son of George Canning and Joan (Scott) Canning, was in command of HMS Alligator, dealing with disturbances in Madeira. He drowned after an energetic game of rackets, on 25 Sept.1828.

"On Wednesday morning, at 11 o'clock, the remains of Captain Canning, R.N., eldest son of the late Premier, . . . were conveyed from Harcourt House, in a hearse, drawn by four horses, followed by four mourning coaches, with four horses each, to Westminster Abbey." [cutting from unidentified newspaper, 1828, in family scrapbook] Captain the Hon. William Pitt Canning was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.

George Canning wrote to his wife regarding their second son, 20 Sept. 1812: "I know not what to say of William. I am afraid he is unamiable. But then he certainly is not loved like his brother & sister: & it is sometimes hard to say in such cases what is cause & which effect."

William Pitt Canning had a fondness for gambling, at cards and billiards, that distressed his father.

Sources

• Burke's Peerage (1913) [Garvagh]; Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 144 (1828), page 477.
• LATER CORRESPONDENCE OF GEORGE iii, ed. by Aspinwall, Vol. V, p. 369
• George Canning is My Son (2021), by Julian Crowe, pp. 420, 455