WILLIAM, 2ND EARL OF DARTMOUTH (1731-1801), grandson of the 1st earl, was lord privy seal at the beginning of the dispute with the American colonies. He advised them in 1777 to accept the conciliatory proposals put forward by Lord North, but in 1776 he opposed similar proposals and advocated the employment of force. In March 1782 he resigned his office, and in 1783 became lord steward of the household ; he died on July 15, 1801. Dart mouth's piety and his intimacy with the early Methodists won for him the epithet of the Psalm-singer. Dartmouth College was named after him, and among his papers preserved at Patshull House, Wolverhampton, are many letters from America relating to the struggle for independence, printed in Dartmouth Papers (Hist. Mss. Comm. r 1th Rep. pp. 19-23 and spp. v. I-5oo, 1887). DARTMOUTH, a seaport and town of Devonshire, England, 7 m. E. of Plymouth. Pop. (1931) 6,707. It is situated near the mouth of the river Dart, which here forms an almost land locked estuary, and is connected by ferry steamer with Kings wear on the opposite shore. The houses rise in tiers from the shore, beneath a range of hills. The parish church of St. Saviour is of the i4th and 15th centuries, and retains an oak rood-screen, an ancient stone pulpit and monuments. The churches of St. Petrux and St. Clement, which are both Early English, represent respectively the ancient manors of Clifton and Hardness, which with Dartmouth give the borough its official name of Clifton Dartmouth-Hardness. Dartmouth Castle, in part of Tudor date, commands the river; the wooded castle estate was purchased by the corporation in 1904. Portions of the cottage of Thomas New comen, one of the inventors of the steam-engine, are preserved. The Royal Naval Cadet college was opened in 1905 to take the place of the Britannia training-ship; it occupies the site of a former seat called Mount Boone. Dartmouth is a favourite yachting centre, and yacht, boat and shipbuilding, brewing, engi neering and paint-making are carried on. Coal is imported, and resold. River steamers ply to Totnes, io m. up the Dart.
Probably owing its origin to Saxon invaders, Dartmouth was a seaport of importance when Earl Beorn was buried in its church in Io49. From its sheltered harbour William II. em barked in 1099 for the relief of Mans and Richard I.'s squa dron set sail for the crusades in 119o, while John landed here in The borough, first claimed as such in the reign of Henry I., was in existence by the middle of the 13th century. In the i3th century Dartmouth was required to furnish ships for the king's service, an obligation maintained throughout the following century. In 1342 the town was incorporated by a charter fre quently confirmed by later sovereigns. A French attack on the town was repulsed in 1404, and in 1485 the burgesses received a royal grant of £4o for walling the town and stretching a chain across the river mouth. Dartmouth fitted out two ships against the Armada, and was captured by both the Royalists and Parlia mentarians in the Civil War. Manorial markets were granted for Dartmouth in 1231 and 1301. These were important, since as early as 1225 the fleet resorted there for provisions. During the i4th and I Sth centuries there was a regular trade with Bordeaux and Brittany, and complaints of piracies by Dartmouth men were frequent.