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William Shirley
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: William Shirley |
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| US Military Dictionary: William Shirley |
Shirley, William (1694-1771) colonial governor of Massachusetts. Shirley was born in England into a well-connected family. He took up the practice of law, but some unsuccessful financial investments and general dissatisfaction led him to seek a post in a colonial government, and he arrived in Boston in 1731. He replaced the unpopular governor of Massachusetts, Jonathan Belcher, and quickly resolved a banking and credit crisis; he remained a popular governor, especially after the successful Massachusetts-led raid on Fort Louisbourg at Cape Breton, in 1745. He went to Paris to try to negotiate a boundary that would satisfy both Britain and France but found the experience frustrating and returned to Boston in 1753. Shirley was a colonel of a Massachusetts regiment in the French and Indian War (1754-63); and eventually succeeded Gen. Edward Braddock as commander of British forces in North America. When the French succeeded in repulsing the British effort to take Fort Oswego, Shirley was blamed, unfairly, for the defeat and recalled to London. He languished there until he won an appointment as governor of the Bahamas in 1759.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: William Shirley |
Shirley, William, 1694-1771, colonial governor in British North America, b. England. He became a lawyer and in 1731 emigrated to Massachusetts. In 1741 he became governor of Massachusetts. He opposed the issuance of more paper money, and in the war with France he promoted the successful expedition (1745) against Louisburg. British specie payments for the expenses of that expedition helped redeem the paper money and stabilize the colony's currency. Shirley led (1755) an unsuccessful expedition against Canada in the French and Indian War and was briefly commander of British forces in America after the death (1755) of Gen. Edward Braddock. He was removed as governor in 1756 but cleared of charges of treason concerning the Canadian expedition. He served (1761-70) as governor of the Bahamas and retired to Roxbury, Mass. His correspondence was edited by C. H. Lincoln (1912).
Bibliography
See biographies by G. A. Wood (1920) and J. A. Schutz (1961).
Dictionary:
Shir·ley (shûr'lē)  , William
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British colonial administrator who was governor of Massachusetts (1741-1749 and 1753-1756) and commanded British forces in the French and Indian War.
| Works: Works by William Shirley |
(1694-1771)
| 1746 | Journal of the Siege of Louisbourg. The colonial governor and commander provides a valuable firsthand account of the 1745 battle at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. |
| 1758 | Memoirs of the Principal Transactions of the Last War Between the English and French in North-America. Shirley's historical account of the war is less revealing and more self-serving than his previous firsthand account, Journal of the Siege of Louisbourg (1746), a vivid, day-to-day chronicle of the 1745 battle at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. |
| Wikipedia: William Shirley |
- For the English cricketer of the same name, see William Shirley (cricketer)
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William Shirley
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| In office 14 August 1741 – September 11, 1749 7 August 1753 – 25 September 1756 |
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| Preceded by | Jonathan Belcher (1741) Spencer Phips (1753) |
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| Succeeded by | Spencer Phips (1749 & 1756) |
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| Born | 2 December 1694 Sussex, England |
| Died | 24 March 1771 Roxbury, Massachusetts |
William Shirley (2 December 1694 – 24 March 1771) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1741 to 1759 and Governor of the Bahamas between 1761 and 1766. He also gained experience as a military commander serving as Commander-in-Chief, North America.
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Early life
William Shirley was the son of William and Elizabeth Godman Shirley, and was born on 2 December 1694, at Preston Manor in Sussex, England. He was educated at Cambridge then studied law in London before moving to Boston in 1731.
His early government jobs included that of surveyor and King's Advocate for New England. He was appointed the royal Governor in 1741. In 1745, he led a successful siege of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
Shirley strongly supported the Crown, and on Aug. 15, 1755, he secretly wrote to his superior in London that it would be relatively easy to forestall any threat that the American colonies would declare independence.
- "At all Events, they could not maintain such an Independency, without a Strong Naval Force, which it must forever be in the Power of Great Britain to hinder them from having: And whilst His Majesty hath 7000 Troops kept up within them, & in the Great Lakes upon the back of six of them, with the Indians at Command, it seems very easy, provided the Governors & principal Civil Officers are Independent of the Assemblies for their Subsistence, & commonly Vigilant, to prevent any Steps of that kind from being taken."[1]
Seven Years War
Main article: Great Britain in the Seven Years War
He was commander-in-chief of North American forces, and with Charles Lawrence, was the architect of the Great Expulsion, the forcible removal of more than 12,000 Acadians from Nova Scotia in 1755. Some historians consider this incident to be an example of ethnic cleansing from the colonial period. On 31 March 1756, the Secretary of War replaced him as commander-in-chief and told him to return to England as soon as possible.[2] He was later exonerated, and served as Governor of the Bahamas from 1761-1769.
He retired to live with his daughter and her husband (Eliakin Hutchinson) at the Roxbury house. He died there on 24 March 1771.
The Shirley House
He built a family home in Roxbury between 1744 and 1750. The Shirley-Eustis House still stands at 33 Shirley Street. It has largely been restored and is open to the public.[3].
Memorials
- The town of Shirley, Massachusetts, founded during his term as Massachusetts governor.
- The Winthrop, Massachusetts geographical feature Shirley Point and the former feature Shirley Gut. William Shirley helped to establish a cod fishery in Winthrop in 1753.[4]
Footnotes
- ^ quoted in George Louis Beer, British Colonial Policy, 1754-1765 (1922) p. 266.
- ^ O'Toole pg. 154
- ^ Historic Shirley-Eustis House
- ^
"Winthrop (Massachusetts)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
References
- O'Toole, Fintan, White Savage, William Johnson and the Invention of America, 2005, ISBN 0-374-28128-9
- Rawlyk, George A. "New England Origins of the Louisbourg Expedition of 1745." Dalhousie Review 1964 44(4): 469-493, focuses on Shirley's role
- Schutz, John A. William Shirley, King's Governor of Massachusetts (1961)
External links
- Mass.gov has an official biography (visited January 16, 2009).
- "Shirley, William". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jonathan Belcher |
Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 14 August 1741 – September 11, 1749 |
Succeeded by Spencer Phips (acting) |
| Preceded by Spencer Phips (acting) |
Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 7 August 1753 – 25 September 1756 |
Succeeded by Spencer Phips (acting) |
| Preceded by John Gambier, acting |
Governor of the Bahamas 1760–1768 |
Succeeded by Thomas Shirley |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by Edward Braddock |
Commander-in-Chief, North America 1755–1756 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Loudoun |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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| US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Works. The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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