Pitt Street, George Town have lived here for centuries. Pitt Street was named after William Pitt the Younger, who was the Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1783 and 1801. When Captain Francis Light founded Penang Island in 1786, he renamed the island the "Prince of Wales Island" in honour of the Prince of Wales, the new settlement of George Town after King George III and the first street within the settlement after himself. Worried that Prime Minister William Pitt may have felt offended as nothing was named after him, Light felt compelled to name Pitt Street after him. Pitt Street, created soon after
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham Temple, on 16 November 1754. They had five children – Hester, Harriet, John, William and James: There have been at least two Royal Navy ships that bore the name HMS Pitt. After British General John Forbes occupied Fort Duquesne during the French and Indian War, he ordered the site's reconstruction and named it after then-Secretary of State Pitt. He also named the settlement between the rivers "Pittsborough", which would eventually become known as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Numerous other cities, towns and streets in the United States, Canada, and Australia are named after Pitt as well. United States Canada Australia Ecuador New