19 Facts About Edward Bancroft

Edward Bancroft's father died of an epileptic seizure when Bancroft was two years old, and his mother remarried five years later to David Bull of Connecticut.

At the age of sixteen, Edward Bancroft was apprenticed to a physician in Killingworth, Connecticut, but after a few years ran away.

Edward Bancroft soon expanded his practice to multiple plantations and wrote a study of the local environment.

Edward Bancroft later wrote extensively about the chemistry of dyes, based in part on his work in Dutch Guiana, contrasting non-European dyeing techniques unfavorably with the learned "philosophical chemistry" of natural philosophers like himself.

In 1771 Edward Bancroft married the twenty-two year old Penelope Fellows, daughter of a prominent Catholic family.

Edward Bancroft was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1773 as "a gentleman versed in natural history and Chymistry, and author of the natural history of Guiana".

In London, Edward Bancroft sent copies of recent newspapers and pamphlets on current affairs and long letters to Deane to keep the Americans informed about the thinking of the British government and people.

Edward Bancroft arranged to have his dispatches smuggled into France in French diplomatic pouches to avoid having them opened by the London post office.

Wentworth arranged for Edward Bancroft to meet Secret Service chief William Eden and Lords Suffolk and Weymouth, where Edward Bancroft agreed to become a spy for Britain.

Edward Bancroft assisted Franklin and Deane by copying letters and other documents, by translating diplomatic correspondence into French or English, and by arranging for repairs, hiring crews, and buying supplies for American ships in French ports.

Edward Bancroft was "successful but ineffective"; that is, though he gathered a good deal of information, the British were unable to prevent a Franco-American alliance.

Unaware that Edward Bancroft was a British spy, Jones and Edward Bancroft became close friends, and Jones even used him as an intermediary with Franklin.

When Lee accused Edward Bancroft of being a traitor, Jones came to his defense; and in early 1779, Jones convinced Livingston to retract his accusation.

Priestley, who had never met Deane, pleaded with Edward Bancroft to set the record straight.

Edward Bancroft responded by publishing in several newspapers an account provided by the ship's captain, which stated that Deane had become suddenly ill and had been unable to say anything comprehensible during the four hours before his death.

In 1959, historian Julian Boyd suggested that Edward Bancroft might have poisoned Deane, then spread rumors that Deane had committed suicide in an attempt to cover up the murder.

In 1794, Edward Bancroft published Experimental Researches Concerning the Philosophy of Permanent Colors, a book he updated in 1814.

Edward Bancroft was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1797.

Edward Bancroft himself died on September 7,1821, at Addington Place in Margate.