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
Records of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom Wilmington to Theresa May) University college with most alumni Prime MinistersChrist Church, Oxford13 (George Grenville to Sir Alec Douglas-Home) Vocational institution with most Prime Ministers as studentsThe Inns of Court11 (Lord Wilmington to Tony Blair). Of these, eight passed through Lincoln's Inn (William Pitt the Younger to Tony Blair). The first Prime Minister never to have been a university graduate was the Duke of Devonshire (served 1756–57), the last (as of ) was John Major (served 1990–97). The earliest Prime Minister to be an armed forces veteran was Henry Pelham, Prime Minister in 1743–54, who had served as a volunteer