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 the Younger republic" naval mutiny at the Nore in June 1797 led by Richard Parker who blockaded London for a time inspired a more repressive approach from Pitt who made it clear he would not negotiate with Parker, whom he wanted to see hanged as a mutineer. In response to the naval mutinies of 1797, Pitt passed an act that made it unlawful to advocate breaking oaths to the Crown and passed the Defense of the Realm act in 1798, which further restricted civil liberties. In 1797, Pitt was forced to protect the kingdom's gold reserves by preventing individuals from exchanging banknotes