Hester Grenville, 1st Countess Temple

Hester Grenville, 1st Countess Temple, 2nd Viscountess Cobham (née Temple; bapt. 7 May 1684 – 6 October 1752) was an English noblewoman. She was the mother and grandmother of the Prime Ministers George Grenville and William Grenville.

The Right Honourable The Countess Temple
Countess Temple
In office 1749–1752
Preceded by	New creation
Succeeded by	Richard Grenville-Temple
Viscountess Cobham
In office 1749–1752
Preceded by	Richard Temple
Succeeded by	Richard Grenville-Temple
Personal details
Born	Hester Temple bapt. 7 May 1684[1]
Died	6 October 1752 (aged 68)
Spouse	Richard Grenville ​ ​ (m. 1710; died 1727)​
Children	Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple George Grenville James Grenville Henry Grenville Thomas Grenville Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham
Parent(s)	Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet Mary Knapp
Relatives	William Pitt the Younger (grandson) Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham (brother)

Life and family

She was the daughter (and eventual co-heir) of Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Bt. (1634–1697), of Stowe, Buckinghamshire,^[2] and his wife, Mary Knapp.

Hester married Richard Grenville of Wotton in Buckinghamshire on 25 November 1710, and became the mother of five sons, all of whom served as members of parliament:

• Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple (1711–1779), MP.
• George Grenville (1712–1770), MP; was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1763 to 1765. He married Elizabeth Wyndham and had children. (George's son, William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, also became prime minister.)
• James Grenville (1715–1783), MP; served as a minister under his brother-in-law William Pitt the Younger. He married Mary Smyth and had children.
• Henry Grenville (1717–1784), MP; married Margaret Eleanor Banks and had children.
• Thomas Grenville (1719–1747), MP; a Royal Navy officer, who died at sea, aged 28, unmarried.

Her daughter, Hester (1720–1803), was the wife of William Pitt the Elder and mother of William Pitt the Younger, who both became prime minister.^[3]

Hester was the sister of Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, whose title she inherited under a special remainder in 1749; on 18 October of the same year, her husband being long dead, she was created 1st Countess Temple.^[4][5] Lord Cobham had excluded from succession his nephews Temple West and Gilbert West (who were sons of his elder sister Maria and Richard West), and also his other sister Penelope.^[6]