William Pitt the Younger intelligence network of spies and informers to crush the United Irishmen. In April 1797, the Pitt government was badly shaken by the mutiny of the entire fleet at Spithead with the sailors demanding a pay increase to match inflation. The Spithead mutiny occurred at exactly the same moment that the French and their Dutch allies were preparing for an invasion of Great Britain which threw the government into a state of panic. To regain control of the fleet, Pitt agreed to sailors' demands for pay increases and to have George III pardon the mutineers. By contrast, the more political "floating
Thomas Pitt his one-time business associate. He had at least four sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Robert, was father of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, often called "Pitt the Elder", who was twice Prime Minister. His second sons were twins, based on an entry to the baptismal records of St. Lawrence, Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire: Thomas, later 1st Earl of Londonderry, and William. No other record of William can be found so he probably died in infancy. His third son John was a distinguished soldier. His second daughter, Lucy, married James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope. His daughter, Essex Pitt,