Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet
| Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet | |
|---|---|
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| 10º Governor of the Province of New Jersey | |
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In office 27 January 1758 – 4 July 1760 |
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| Monarch | George II |
| Preceded by | John Reading |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Boone |
| Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay | |
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In office 2 August 1760 – 1 August 1769 |
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| Monarch | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Hutchinson (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Hutchinson (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | baptised 12 July 1712 Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Berkshire, England |
| Died | 16 June 1779 (aged 66) Nether Winchendon, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Signature |  |
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 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.
Appointed governor of New Jersey in 1758, he oversaw the province's participation in the later years of the French and Indian War, and had a generally positive relationship with its legislature. In 1760 he was given the governorship of Massachusetts, where he had a stormy relationship with the assembly. Early actions turned the colony's populists against him, and his responses to protests against Parliament's attempts to tax the colonies deepened divisions. After protests against the Townshend Acts in 1768, Bernard sought British Army troops be stationed in Boston to oversee the colonists. He was recalled after the publication of letters in which he was critical of the colony.
After returning to England, he continued to advise the British government on colonial matters, calling for hardline responses to ongoing difficulties in Massachusetts that culminated in the 1773 Boston Tea Party. He suffered a stroke in 1771 and died in 1779, leaving a large family.
Francis was born in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, (then in Berkshire, but part of Oxfordshire since 1974), England to the Rev. Francis and Margery (Winslowe) Bernard and was christened on 12 July 1712. His father died three years later. His mother remarried, but died herself of smallpox in 1718. He was thereafter probably raised by an aunt for several years, since his stepfather was forced by a failed courtship to flee to Holland. His stepfather, Anthony Alsop, returned to Berkshire a few years later, and continued to play a role in the boy's upbringing. 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. He read law at the Middle Temple and was called to the bar in 1737, after only four years (instead of the typical seven) of study. He settled in Lincoln, where he practiced law and took on a variety of municipal posts. Among his neighbors in Lincoln were the Pownalls, who had one son (John) 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.
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