70 Facts About Thomas Pownall

Thomas Pownall was governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1757 to 1760, and afterwards sat in the House of Commons from 1767 to 1780.

Thomas Pownall 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.

Thomas Pownall spent two years exploring the colonies before being appointed Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey in 1755.

Thomas Pownall became governor of Massachusetts in 1757 after helping engineer the recall of longtime Governor William Shirley.

Thomas Pownall's administration was dominated by the French and Indian War in which Pownall was instrumental in raising Massachusetts provincial militia for the war effort.

Thomas Pownall 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.

Several writers have proposed that Thomas Pownall was Junius, a pseudonymous writer of letters critical of British governmental practices.

Thomas Pownall was the eldest son of William and Sarah Pownall, daughter of John Burniston and his wife.

Thomas Pownall's education exposed him to classic and current philosophers, and the sciences.

Thomas Pownall chose to remain in America, devoting himself to studying the condition of the American colonies.

Thomas Pownall was introduced into the highest circles of leadership and society in the colonies, and established relationships with a number of influential people, including Benjamin Franklin and Massachusetts Governor William Shirley.

Thomas Pownall had studied the matter, and he was consequently invited by his Pennsylvania connections to attend the 1754 Albany Congress as an observer.

Thomas Pownall proposed the establishment of a crown-appointed superintendent of Indian affairs, specifically William Johnson, New York's commissioner for Indian affairs who was highly influential with the Iroquois nations.

Thomas Pownall articulated visions for managing the expansion of the colonies to the west.

The map Evans published in 1755 was dedicated to Thomas Pownall, and brought the latter wide publicity.

Thomas Pownall had been living at his own expense, in the hopes that a posting would eventually come his way.

Thomas Pownall already harboured some dislike of Shirley over an earlier snub, and his reports to New York Governor Sir Charles Hardy, combined with damaging allegations provided by other Johnson supporters, led to Shirley's dismissal as commander-in-chief.

Thomas Pownall returned to England in early 1756, where he confirmed the Johnson allegations, and was rewarded with a post as "Secretary Extraordinary" to the new commander-in-chief, Lord Loudoun.

Thomas Pownall was offered the governorship of Pennsylvania by its proprietors; however, his demands for wide-ranging powers in the post led them to retract the offer.

Thomas Pownall was energetic in organizing the militia, but the call to arms came too late since Fort William Henry fell after a brief siege that was followed by some of the worst atrocities by Indians of the war.

Thomas Pownall objected to the interference of the military in civilian affairs, the threat of which Loudoun used to implement his agenda, by maintaining that it was necessary for the governor to lead, not drive, the provincial assembly.

Thomas Pownall requested for the General Court to accede in some way to Loudoun's demands and eventually signed a bill authorizing the quartering of troops in inns and other public spaces.

The bill was unpopular, and Thomas Pownall was negatively cast in the local press as supportive of Loudoun and his policies.

Thomas Pownall was so committed to his ideas that he offered to resign, but Loudoun encouraged him to remain in the post.

Thomas Pownall specifically recommended for London to offer to pay more of the colonial expenses of the war; the implementation of that idea led to a significant increase in militia recruitment for the remaining years of the war, including 7,000 men from Massachusetts for the 1758 campaign.

Thomas Pownall was able to move a bill through the General Court to implement reforms of the militia system.

The bill did not include all of the changes that Thomas Pownall had sought to achieve a more flexible and less costly organization, and its terms handed more power over the militia in the hands of local officials and reduced the governor's control.

Thomas Pownall was successful in recruiting the province's full quota of militia, and his energetic assistance in the war effort earned him approbation from Pitt; the Board of Trade; and the new commander-in-chief, James Abercrombie.

Flush with success, Thomas Pownall proposed to General Jeffery Amherst the idea of establishing a fort on Penobscot Bay to contest potential French movements in the area.

Thomas Pownall led the expedition, oversaw the construction of Fort Thomas Pownall and counted it as a major success of the year.

Thomas Pownall assiduously saw to the needs of its many fishermen, successfully convinced the military authorities to eliminate burdensome red tape and courted local merchants.

Thomas Pownall invested in ventures managed by Thomas and John Hancock and was lauded by a group of Massachusetts merchants upon his departure.

Thomas Pownall successfully finessed contentious issues surrounding the recruitment, deployment, and provisioning of militia by negotiating compromises between military and provincial demands.

The biographer John Schutz speculates that the underlying reason for Thomas Pownall's request was related to frustration with his exclusion from the major military actions of the later war years, which was possibly compounded br his desire to acquire a more significant post, such as a governor-generalship of the conquered New France.

Whatever the reason, the Board of Trade engaged in a reshuffling of colonial positions after King George II died, and Thomas Pownall was given the governorship of South Carolina and permission first to take leave in England.

The work, a dry and complex treatise on the situation in North America that included commentary on the burgeoning tensions in the Thirteen Colonies, was intended by Thomas Pownall to explore how the colonies could properly be incorporated into a larger empire.

Thomas Pownall was convinced of the need for a strong central legislature capable of making common policies that would be binding for every member of the British Empire, including the fractious provinces in North America.

Thomas Pownall eventually decided that the only solution lay in creating an imperial parliament with representatives from both Britain and the colonies.

Thomas 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.

Thomas Pownall considered returning to Massachusetts if a post could be found, and he began investing in property in Nova Scotia by extending his colonial property interests beyond those he had been granted in Maine during his governorship.

Thomas Pownall renewed correspondence with officials in Massachusetts in the hopes of winning appointment as an agent representing the province's interests but was unsuccessful.

Thomas Pownall regularly received visitors from the colonies, and Benjamin Franklin, his old friend from Pennsylvania, was a frequent guest.

Thomas Pownall 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.

Thomas Pownall used his position in Parliament to highlight the colonial objections to the Quartering Act of 1765 and other unpopular legislation.

Thomas Pownall was opposed to Lord North's partial repeal in 1770 of the hated Townshend Acts in which the tax on tea was retained as a symbol of parliamentary power.

In debate on the act, Thomas Pownall pointed out that retention of the tax would be a "millstone" around English necks, rather than a yoke on American ones, and that it would lead to civil war.

In 1772, Thomas Pownall introduced legislation reforming food production and distribution in Great Britain.

Thomas Pownall was honoured with membership in the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society.

Thomas Pownall was unable to sway opinion toward more conciliatory measures.

Thomas Pownall was unable to retain his seat since in 1774, he was voted out of office.

Thomas Pownall supported North's attempts at reconciliation in debates leading to the start the American Revolutionary War.

Thomas Pownall remained nominally in support of North until 1777, when he openly made declarations in support of the peace party.

Thomas Pownall's support was nuanced since he continued to argue for some sort of conciliation with the Americans and remaining resolutely patriotic with respect to the French.

Thomas Pownall was not alone among British politicians in being unable reconcile those positions and refused to stand for re-election in 1780.

Thomas Pownall worked to update and revise the Evans map by soliciting data and updated maps from colonial correspondents.

Thomas Pownall withdrew to some extent in the later years after the death of his wife in 1777 but has appeared in Parliament.

Thomas Pownall proposed that European leaders meet to establish worldwide regulations for what was essentially free trade.

Thomas Pownall continued to maintain an interest in the United States after the war ended although he never returned.

Thomas Pownall sought without success a commission in the Massachusetts militia, mostly as a formality so that he could present it during his European travels.

Thomas Pownall continued to write essays and published an updated version of his 1755 map.

Thomas Pownall assisted Miranda explicitly by cultivating connections in the British government as he attempted to advance the independence agenda.

Thomas Pownall's last major work was a treatise again arguing for free trade and explicitly called for British support of Latin American independence as a way to open those markets to British and American trade.

Thomas Pownall died at Bath on 25 February 1805 and was interred in the church at Walcot.

Thomas Pownall's father had corresponded with William Stukeley about ancient finds in and around Lincoln, and Thomas Pownall's brother John was a writer on archaeological subjects.

Thomas Pownall was already demonstrating his interest in archaeology before he left for America, when, in 1752, he recorded evidence for a Roman villa at Glentworth in Lincolnshire.

Thomas Pownall was to follow this with descriptions of Roman remains in France when he was living there, and, on moving to Bath he again provided descriptions of Roman discoveries.

In 1784 Thomas Pownall married Hannah Astell, acquiring in the process significant estates and the trappings of landed gentry.

The remains of Fort Thomas Pownall, named for him, survive in Maine's Fort Point State Park.

Many of the letters contained accusations of corruption and abuse of power on the part of British government officials, subjects Thomas Pownall spoke and wrote about.