William Morton Pitt
From extracts of his obituary published in The Gentlemen’s Magazine, Volume 5, January to June 1836. Mr. William Morton Pitt was the eldest and only surviving son of John Pitt (1706-1787), esq. of Encombe, a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations, Surveyor of Woods and Forests, and M. P. for Wareham and Dorchester.
In 1779, Mr. William Morton-Pitt was appointed Lieut-Col. of the Dorsetshire Militia. He lived at the mansion-house at Encombe in the Isle of Purbeck, which he inherited from his father. The estate of Kingston had belonged to his Grandfather George Pitt, esq. (1663–1735).
William Morton Pitt (1754-1836) a cousin of the Prime Minister William Pitt (the younger) born (1759-1806) ²⁰ , was essentially a public man, throughout a long and laborious life.
Mr. William Morton-Pitt had the rare success of obtaining the good will of, and giving satisfaction to, all classes and parties; and whether as an active county magistrate, the duties of which office he fulfilled with zeal, ability and discretion, for upwards of half a century; or in parliament, where he sat for the Poole Constituency 1780-1790 and later the Dorset Constituency 1790-1826 ²⁰ . His time and exertions unremittingly devoted to the public good. Nor was his private life less worthy. Beloved by his family, esteemed by his friends, and honoured by all, he passed through life distinguished by the possession of the purest virtues, and by the exercise of a diffusive philanthropy, and extensive practical benevolence.

To encourage industry, and detach the population from smuggling, Mr. Morton-Pitt established a manufactory for cordage and sail-cloth, near his domain in the Isle of Purbeck, and he also erected, at his own expense, a manufactory for hats in the gaol at Dorchester. He was likewise one of the first promoters of Sunday schools; and addressed in 1789 a public letter to the London Society established for their encouragement, containing a plan for the formation of District Committees and County Societies, in furtherance of their objects. He was also at the expense of printing some statistical tables on the state of the poor, which are given in that work. He published, in 1798, an address to the Landed Interest on the deficiency of Habitations and Fuel for the use of the Poor: and he was the author of several communications to the Bath Agricultural Papers, and Young’s Annals of Agriculture.

Mr.Morton-Pitt was twice married. His first wife was Margaret, daughter of John Gambier, esq. Governor of the Bahama Islands, by whom he had an only daughter Sophia, who was married in 1806 to Charles, second and present Earl of Romney, and died in 1812, leaving, issue Charles Viscount Marsham and four daughters.

Mr. Morton-Pitt married secondly, in 1815, Grace-Amelia, daughter of Henry Seymer, of Hanford in Dorsetshire, esq.: this lady’s mother was Griselda, or Grace, daughter of James Kerr, of Kerrsfield, N.B. by Lucy sister to the first Rivers; and she was thus Mr. Morton-Pitt’s cousin, twice removed. We believe she survives him, having had issue a son and heir, and other children ¹³ .

History of the Encombe Estate
The Encombe estate was given in A.D. 948 to the Abbess of Shaftesbury by King Eadred and probably remained in the possession of Shaftesbury Abbey during the Middle Ages until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

After Shaftesbury Abbey surrendered in 1539, the manor of Encombe was granted to John Zouche in May 1540, who is presumed to have been a relative of Elizabeth Zouche, the last Abbess of Shaftesbury who signed the deed of surrender. Sir Thomas Arundel, who was related to the Zouche family, had previously administered the estates of Shaftesbury Abbey and a commissioner of Thomas Cromwell for the southwest, acquired much of the property of the abbey in Dorset and Wiltshire.

However, he fell out of favour in the reign of Edward VI and was beheaded in 1552, forfeiting all his possessions to the crown.

Later in 1552, the estate was acquired by Robert Culliford and it remained in the Culliford family until 1734. The family only prevented Oliver Cromwell from seizing the property by providing men to help slight nearby Corfe Castle in 1646. The last member of the Culliford family to own the property, William Culliford, who had run into debt, sold the house to George Pitt of Stratfield Saye in Hampshire. The estate was inherited by his second son, John Pitt, a second cousin of William Pitt the Elder, prime minister and first Earl of Chatham. In 1735, he modified the first Encombe House using a combination of Palladian and Vanbrughian elements, a mark his personal style.

In 1807, when William Morton-Pitt sold the majority of the Estate, this house became the seat of the Earls of Eldon.