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
St Mary the Virgin, Bromley the west end of the nave survived. In 2005 a meeting room was erected to the rear of the Church and is used by many clubs and societies in the locality. St Mary’s was the local Parish church for two British Prime Ministers, William Pitt the Elder and William Pitt the Younger, the latter of whom was christened here and are remembered by a wall memorial funded by Parliament. They lived opposite the church in a country house called Hayes Place, which was also the home of Everard Hambro. Sir Vicary Gibbs was also a Parishioner and is buried in