Thomas Pownall

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Thomas Pownall bigraphy, stories - British colonial official, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Province

Thomas Pownall : biography

baptised 4 September 1722 – 25 February 1805

{ |successor3 = John Reading {President of Council} |birth_date = Baptised September 4, 1722 (New Style) |birth_place = |death_date = 25 February, |death_place = Bath, Somerset, England |party = Whig |spouse = |profession = |religion = Anglican |signature = ThomasPownallSignature.png }}

Thomas Pownall (bapt. 4 September 1722 (New Style) – 25 February 1805) was a British politician and colonial official. He was governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1757 to 1760, and afterward served in the British Parliament. He travelled widely in the North American colonies prior to the American Revolutionary War, opposed Parliamentary attempts to tax the colonies, and was a minority advocate of colonial positions until the Revolution.

Classically educated and well-connected to the colonial administration in London, Pownall first travelled to North America in 1753, and spent two years exploring the colonies before being appointed Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey in 1755. He became governor of Massachusetts in 1757 after helping engineer the recall of longtime Governor William Shirley. His administration was dominated by the French and Indian War, in which Pownall was instrumental in raising Massachusetts provincial militia for the war effort. He opposed military interference in colonial administration, including attempts to quarter British troops in private homes, and had a generally positive relationship with the colonial assembly.

Returning to England in 1760, he continued to be interested in colonial affairs, publishing widely read materials on conditions in the colonies, including several editions of The Administration of the Colonies. As a Member of Parliament he regularly advocated for colonial positions without much success, but supported the war effort once the Revolutionary War began. In the early 19th century he became an early advocate of the reduction or removal of trade barriers, and the establishment of a solid relationship between Britain and the United States. Several writers have proposed that Pownall was Junius, a pseudonymous writer of letters critical of British governmental practices.

John Adams wrote, "Pownall was the most constitutional and national Governor, in my opinion, who ever represented the crown in this province."Adams, p. 243

Colonial supporter

Pownall continued to communicate with political allies in Massachusetts, and was on several occasions called to appear before Parliamentary committees to comment on colonial affairs.Schutz, p. 198 He considered returning to Massachusetts if a post could be found, and began investing in property in Nova Scotia, extending his colonial property interests beyond those he had been granted in Maine during his governorship. In 1765 he married Harriet Fawkener, widow of Everard Fawkener and daughter to Lieutenant General Charles Churchill, giving him a connection to the aristocratic Dukes of Marlborough.Schutz, p. 199 Pownall raised her four children as his own. A gracious and intelligent woman, she became a partner in advancing his political career, hosting social events and encouraging his intellectual pursuits. She may have encouraged him to stand for Parliament in 1767, when he won a seat representing Tregony.Schutz, p. 200

[[Benjamin Franklin was a friend and frequent correspondent of Pownall’s.]] He renewed correspondence with officials in Massachusetts in the hopes of winning appointment as an agent representing the province’s interests, but was unsuccessful.Schutz, p. 202 He regularly received visitors from the colonies, and Benjamin Franklin, his old friend from Pennsylvania, was a frequent guest.Schutz, p. 203 He observed with alarm the rise in tension in the colonies and the missteps of Parliamentary leadership and colonial administration that exacerbated rather than reduced them.Schutz, p. 213 He used his position in Parliament to highlight the colonial objections to the Quartering Act of 1765 and other unpopular legislation. When troops were sent to Boston in 1768 after protests against the Townshend Acts turned violent, he took to the floor of Parliament, warning that the connections between Britain and the colonies were unraveling, and that the end result could be a permanent breach.Schutz, pp. 219–220