Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet

Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet (bapt. 12 July 1712 – 16 June 1779) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of the provinces of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay. His policies and tactics in the governance of Massachusetts were instrumental in the building of broad-based opposition within the province to the rule of Parliament in the early years of the American Revolution.

Early life

Francis was born in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, (then in Berkshire, but part of Oxfordshire since 1974), England to the Rev. Francis and Margery (Winslowe Tyringham) Bernard and was christened on 12 July 1712.^[1] His father died three years later. His mother remarried, but died herself of smallpox in 1718.^[2] He was thereafter probably raised by an aunt for several years, since his stepfather was forced by a failed courtship to flee to Holland.^[3] His stepfather, Anthony Alsop, returned to Berkshire a few years later, and continued to play a role in the boy's upbringing.^[4] Bernard's formal education began at Westminster in 1725, and he then spent seven years at Oxford, where Christ Church granted him a master of arts in 1736. A man of considerable intelligence, it was reported that he could recite entire plays of Shakespeare from memory. He read law at the Middle Temple and was called to the bar in 1737. He settled in Lincoln, where he practiced law and took on a variety of municipal posts. Among his neighbors in Lincoln were the Pownalls, with one son serving in the colonial office, and another, Thomas, who went to the North American colonies in 1753 and was appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1757. Other neighbors were the Hastingses, of whom Warren went on to fame in India.

Bernard married Amelia Offley in 1741 and the couple raised a large family: by 1757 the couple had eight living children.^[5] Because his prospects for further income to support this large family were unlikely in Lincoln, he apparently decided to seek a posting in the colonies. John Adams later described Bernard as "avaricious to a most infamous degree; needy at the same time, having a numerous family to provide for."

Governor of New Jersey

Bernard's wife was cousin to Lord Barrington, who became a Privy Councillor in 1755.^[6][7] Probably through his connection to Barrington, he secured an appointment as governor of the Province of New Jersey on 27 January 1758, a post that became available upon the death of Jonathan Belcher.^[8] Leaving some of his children with relatives, the couple sailed for North America with four of their children, arriving at Perth Amboy on 14 June. Bernard won a good reputation and some popularity there by promoting mutual defence activities with other colonies. He also negotiated treaties to bring an end to Indian raids on the colony's frontiers on the upper Delaware River valley. His efforts did much to gain New Jersey's active support during the latter part of the French and Indian War. His work was rewarded by appointment to the post of Governor of Massachusetts. On behalf of King George II, Bernard established through a patent charter on 24 May 1760, the founding of Bernardston, New Jersey, later renamed Bernards Township and Bernardsville. His service as Royal Governor of New Jersey ended on 4 July 1760.

Governor of Massachusetts

Bernard was appointed governor of Massachusetts in late 1759, but delays in communications and travel were such that he didn't arrive in Boston until 2 August 1760. Although initially well received, his tenure in Massachusetts was difficult, because he was responsible for enforcing unpopular laws and taxes, and his tactics in attempting to do so made him many enemies. His difficulties started when he issued Writs of Assistance in 1760 to customs tax collectors. These writs, which were essentially open-ended search warrants, were judicially controversial and so unpopular that their issuance was explicitly disallowed by the United States Constitution. His difficulties continued through other tax measures, including the Stamp Act, which united many factions in the province against him.

In 1767 the passage by Parliament of the Townshend Acts again raised a storm of protest in the colonies.^[10] In Massachusetts the provincial assembly issued a circular letter, calling on the other colonies to join it in a boycott of the goods subject to the Townshend taxes.^[11] Bernard was ordered in April 1768 by Lord Hillsborough, who had recently been appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, to dissolve the assembly if it failed to retract the letter.^[12] The assembly refused, and Bernard prorogued it in July. Bernard and local customs officials also made repeated requests for military support, due to the hostility exhibited, especially to the latter, who were charged with collecting the taxes. British Army troops arrived in Boston in October 1768, further heightening tensions. Bernard was vilified in the local press, and accused of writing letters to the ministry that mischaracterized the situation.^[11] Although he was challenged to release those letters he refused. Opposition agents in London were eventually able to acquire some of his letters, which reached members of the Sons of Liberty in April 1769.^[13] They were promptly published by the radical Boston Gazette, along with deliberations of the governor's council. One letter in particular, in which Bernard called for changes to the Massachusetts charter to increase the governor's power by increasing the council's dependence on him, was the subject of particularly harsh treatment,^[14] and prompted the assembly to formally request that "he might be forever removed from the Government of the Province." He was recalled to England, and Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson became acting governor. When he left Boston on 1 August, the town held an impromptu celebration, decorated the Liberty Tree, and rang church bells.^[15]

Among his accomplishments in Massachusetts was the design of Harvard Hall at Harvard University, and the completion of a governor's mansion in present day Jamaica Plain near Jamaica Pond in Boston.^[16] The plan for Bernardstown, Massachusetts was laid out during his administration and is named for him. Bernard also named the Berkshires and Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Retirement

Upon his return to England, he asked for and received a hearing concerning the colonial petition against his rule. The Privy Council after deliberation dismissed all of the charges as "groundless, vexatious, and scandalous."^[17] Despite this vindication, Bernard resigned the post shortly after.^[17] Although he had been promised a baronetcy and a pension of £1,000 for his service, he learned after his return that the pension had been reduced to £500 (the baronetcy, of Nettleham, was awarded at crown expense).^[18] His appeals on the matter were at first rejected, but when Lord North became Prime Minister in 1770, the pension was raised, but shortly after replaced by an appointment as commissioner on the Board of Revenue for Ireland, which paid the same amount.^[19]

In late 1771 he was bequeathed the manor at Nether Winchendon upon the death of a cousin to whom he had been close since childhood. Combined with other uncertainties about where various family members would reside with the Irish appointment, the stress of the situation led Bernard to suffer a stroke.^[20] His mobility was impaired, but he took the waters at Bath, which appear to have improved his recovery. He applied for permission to resign the Irish post, and settled first at the Nether Winchendon manor; in 1774 his resignation was accepted and his pension restored.^[21] He was well enough in 1772 to travel to Oxford, where he received an honorary Doctor of Civil Law from his alma mater, Christ Church.^[22] Because of his health he moved later in 1772 to a smaller house in nearby Aylesbury. He died on 16 June 1779 at Nether Winchendon.

Notes

References

• Barrington, Viscount William Wildman; Bernard, Sir Francis (1912). The Barrington-Bernard Correspondence and Illustrative Matter, 1760–1770. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. OCLC 2433914. http://books.google.com/books?id=NzN5AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0. 
• Higgins, Sophia (1903). The Bernards of Abington and Nether Winchendon: a Family History. London and New York: Longmans, Green. OCLC 4277811. http://books.google.com/books?id=LeHZgdEtzPcC&pg=PA173#v=onepage&f=false.  (Volume 2)
• Knollenberg, Bernhard (1975). Growth of the American Revolution, 1766–1775. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-02-917110-5. 
• Nicolson, Colin (1991). "Governor Francis Bernard, the Massachusetts Friends of Government, and the Advent of the Revolution". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society (Third Series, Volume 103): pp. 24–113. JSTOR 25081034. 
• Nicolson, Colin (2000). The "Infamas Govener" Francis Bernard and the Origins of the American Revolution. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 9781555534639. OCLC 59532824. 
• Walett, Francis (June 1965). "Governor Bernard's Undoing: An Earlier Hutchinson Letters Affair". The New England Quarterly (Volume 38, No. 2): 217–226. JSTOR 363591. 

External links

• Official Massachusetts Governor Biography