[2] A procedure to allow resignation from the House of Commons was invented by Pitt to vacate his Wareham seat, as he wished to stand for Dorchester but could not be a candidate while still an MP.

Pitt wrote to Prime Minister Henry Pelham in May 1750 reporting that he had been invited to stand in Dorchester, and asking for "a new mark of his Majesty's favour [to] enable me to do him these further services".

[3] Pelham wrote to William Pitt (the elder) indicating that he would intervene with King George II to help.

[4] On 17 January 1751 Pitt was appointed to the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, and was then elected unopposed for Dorchester.

His one reported speech was on a petition of West Country merchants who complained of French encroachments at Newfoundland.