William Pepperell
| Sir William Pepperrell, Bt | |
|---|---|
1746, by John Smybert
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| Born |
27 June 1696 Kittery Point, District of Maine, Province of Massachusetts Bay |
| Died | 6 July 1759 (aged 63) Kittery Point |
| Occupation | Merchant, statesman and soldier |
| Known for | Siege of Louisbourg |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Hirst (m. 17 March 1723) |
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Sir William Pepperrell, 1st Baronet (27 June 1696 – 6 July 1759) was a merchant and soldier in Colonial Massachusetts. He is widely remembered for organizing, financing, and leading the 1745 expedition that captured the French garrison at Fortress Louisbourg during King George's War. During his day Pepperrell was called "the hero of Louisburg," a victory celebrated in the name of Louisburg Square in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood. He is the great-great-great grandfather of actor Robert Hardy.
William Pepperrell was a native of Kittery, Maine, then a part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and lived there all his life. Born to William Pepperrell, an English settler of Welsh descent who began his career as a fisherman's apprentice, and Margery Bray, daughter of a well-to-do Kittery merchant, William Pepperrell studied surveying and navigation before joining his father (a shipbuilder and fishing boat owner) in business. Young William Pepperrell expanded their enterprise to become one of the most prosperous mercantile houses in New England with ships carrying lumber, fish and other products to the West Indies and Europe. The Pepperrells sunk their profits into land, and soon they controlled immense tracts. Pepperrell served in the militia, becoming a captain (1717), major, lieutenant-colonel, and in 1726 colonel. He also married well, to the granddaughter of Samuel Sewall of Boston. In short, the rise of the Pepperrells within two generations was meteoric.
Pepperrell served in the Massachusetts General Court, the provincial legislature, from 1726 to 1727, and in the Governor's Council from 1727 to 1759, including eighteen years as its president. Although not a trained lawyer, he was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1730 until his death. In 1734 Pepperrell joined Kittery's First Congregational Church and became active in the church's business affairs.
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