25 Facts About Richard Bellingham

Richard Bellingham was one of the architects of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties, a document embodying many sentiments found in the United States Bill of Rights.

Richard Bellingham was twice married, survived by his second wife and his only son Samuel.

Richard Bellingham died in 1672, leaving an estate in present-day Chelsea, Massachusetts, and a large house in Boston.

Richard Bellingham is immortalized in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The New England Tragedies, both of which fictionalize events from colonial days.

Richard Bellingham, the son of William Bellingham and Frances Amcotts, was born in Lincolnshire, England, in about 1592.

Richard Bellingham represented Boston as a member of Parliament in 1628 and 1629.

Richard Bellingham was first married to Elizabeth Backhouse of Swallowfield, Berkshire, with whom he had a number of children, although only their son Samuel survived to adulthood.

Richard Bellingham's name appears on the royal charter issued for the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629.

Richard Bellingham immediately assumed a prominent role in the colony, serving on the committee that oversaw the affairs of Boston.

Richard Bellingham was first elected deputy governor of the colony in 1635, at a time when the dominant John Winthrop was out of favor, and was elected to the post again in 1640.

Richard Bellingham contributed to the development of the colony's first legal code, known as the Massachusetts Body of Liberties.

In 1641 Richard Bellingham was elected governor for the first time, running against Winthrop.

Richard Bellingham appealed to the general court, which ruled in her favor.

In 1648 Richard Bellingham sat on a committee established to demonstrate that the colony's legal codes were not "repugnant to the laws of England", as called for by the colonial charter.

In 1650, when Richard Bellingham was an assistant, he concurred in the judicial decision banning William Pynchon's The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, which expressed views many Puritans considered heretical.

Richard Bellingham was thereafter annually re-elected to the post until his death, ultimately serving a total of ten years as governor and thirteen as deputy governor.

Since Endecott was in Salem at the time, Richard Bellingham directed the government's reaction to their arrival.

Richard Bellingham requested specific changes to be made to Massachusetts laws to increase suffrage and tolerance for other Protestant religious practices, actions that were resisted or ignored during the Endecott administration.

Richard Bellingham sided with the hardliners and the decision was reached to send the king a letter.

Richard Bellingham was the last surviving signer of the colonial charter, and was buried in Boston's Granary Burying Ground.

Richard Bellingham was survived by his son Samuel from his first marriage and his second wife Penelope, who outlived him by 30 years.

Richard Bellingham's son challenged the will, which was eventually set aside.

The town of Richard Bellingham, Massachusetts is named in his honor, and a number of features in Chelsea, including a square, a street, and a hill, bear the name Richard Bellingham.

Richard Bellingham was immortalized as a fictional character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, as the brother of Ann Hibbins, a woman who was executed for practicing witchcraft.

Richard Bellingham appears in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The New England Tragedies, which fictionalizes events dealing with the Quakers.