Nicholas Bourke (died 11 December 1771) was an Anglo-Irish planter in Jamaica who emigrated to the island around 1740 and acquired significant land-holdings there. He was prominent in the House of Assembly of Jamaica from the later 1750s and speaker in 1770. [1]
Bourke argued in favour of the rights of Assemblymen of Jamaica during a dispute with the governor, William Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton, over who should finance the defence of the colony. Eventually, Bourke won his argument that the British government should bear the cost of defence, and Lyttelton was recalled. [2]
Bourke is thought to have been the author of a pamphlet, The Privileges of the Island of Jamaica Vindicated, that was published in Kingston in 1765 and in London in 1766. [3]
Bourke died in Jamaica on 11 December 1771. [4]
The Boston Massacre was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which nine British soldiers shot several of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles. The event was heavily publicized as "a massacre" by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. British troops had been stationed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 in order to support crown-appointed officials and to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation.
Sir Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports on the Spanish Main, becoming wealthy as they did so. With the prize money and loot from the raids, Morgan purchased three large sugar plantations on Jamaica.
Sir William Beckford was a Jamaican-born planter and Whig politician who twice served as Lord Mayor of London in 1762 and 1769. One of the best known political figures in Georgian era London, his vast wealth derived from the sugar plantations and hundreds of slaves he owned in the British colony of Jamaica. In Britain, Beckford was a supporter of the Whig party, including Prime Minister William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. He also publicly supported progressive causes and frequently championed the London public.
Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of the provinces of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay. His uncompromising policies and harsh tactics in Massachusetts angered the colonists and were instrumental in the building of broad-based opposition within the province to the rule of Parliament in the events leading to the American Revolution.
William Lenthall (1591–1662) was an English politician of the Civil War period. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons for a period of almost twenty years, both before and after the execution of King Charles I.
Edward Long was a British-born planter, historian and writer best known for writing a book about the history of Jamaica in 1774 which was heavily rooted in proslavery thought.
The Boston Gazette (1719–1798) was a newspaper published in Boston, in the British North American colonies. It was a weekly newspaper established by William Brooker, who was just appointed Postmaster of Boston, with its first issue released on December 21, 1719. The Boston Gazette is widely considered the most influential newspaper in early American history, especially in the years leading up to and into the American Revolution. In 1741 the Boston Gazette incorporated the New-England Weekly Journal, founded by Samuel Kneeland, and became the Boston-Gazette, or New-England Weekly Journal. Contributors included: Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Phyllis Wheatley.
Colonel Peter Beckford was an English-born planter, merchant, military officer and colonial administrator who served as the acting governor of Jamaica in 1702. A prominent member of the planter class in the English colony of Jamaica, by the time of his death Beckford had acquired ownership over 20 plantations, 1,200 slaves and earnt what historian Noel Deer described as "perhaps the greatest fortune ever made in planting."
Peter Beckford was a Jamaican-born planter, politician and merchant who served as speaker of the House of Assembly of Jamaica from 1707 to 1713, and again in 1716. The son of one of the richest men in the colony of Jamaica, Beckford sat in the House of Assembly of Jamaica for three decades and acquired a vast financial estate. His wealth would go on to support the political careers of his children in Great Britain.
Colonel Sir Thomas Modyford, 1st Baronet was a planter of Barbados and Governor of Jamaica from 1664 to 1671.
Elizabeth Home, Countess of Home was a Jamaican-born heiress, noblewoman and absentee plantation owner. Already rich from her merchant father, she married James Lawes, the eligible son of Jamaica's governor, in 1720. They moved to London, and his death in 1734 left her a wealthy widow. Home married the spendthrift William Home, 8th Earl of Home in late 1742. He abandoned her soon after, and she spent her next years living an extravagant lifestyle. She owned plantations in the parishes of St Andrew and Vere in Jamaica, owning over 423 slaves on her plantations.
William Henry Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton MP was a British politician and colonial administrator from the Lyttelton family. He was the youngest son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, 4th Baronet.
Samuel Johnson, a British intellectual, wrote dozens of essays that defined his views on the politics of his time.
John Hatsell was an English civil servant, clerk of the House of Commons, and an authority on parliamentary procedure.
The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was primarily used for sugarcane production, and experienced many slave rebellions over the course of British rule. Jamaica was granted independence in 1962.
Jack Philip Greene is an American historian, specializing in Colonial American history and Atlantic history.
William Greene Jr. was the second governor of the state of Rhode Island, serving in this capacity for eight years, five of which were during the American Revolutionary War. From a prominent Rhode Island family, his father, William Greene Sr., had served 11 terms as a colonial governor of Rhode Island. His great-grandfather, John Greene Jr. served for ten years as deputy governor of the colony, and his great-great-grandfather, John Greene Sr. was a founding settler of both Providence and Warwick.
The House of Assembly was the legislature of the British colony of Jamaica. It held its first meeting on 20 January 1664 at Spanish Town. As a result of the Morant Bay Rebellion, the Assembly voted to abolish self-governance in 1865. Jamaica then became a direct-ruled crown colony.
Francis Rose was a plantation owner in Jamaica. He was active in the politics of the island and was elected to serve in the House of Assembly of Jamaica multiple times, becoming speaker in 1702, and later president of the Council of Jamaica.
Simon Taylor was a Jamaican-born planter and politician. Taylor was the wealthiest planter on the island, according to its governor, and died leaving an estate estimated at over £1 million, equivalent to £82,417,303 in 2023.