Hutchinson, Thomas

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Thomas (1711-1780), a colonial governor of Massachusetts. He was the son of a Boston merchant, and was graduated at Harvard in 1727. He held a number of offices both legislative and administrative. Andrew Oliver, appointed to distribute stamps, under the Stamp Act , was his brother-in-law. During the Stamp Act agitation, a Boston mob sacked Hutchinson's house, kicked his furniture into the streets, and made bonfires of it. Hutchinson and his daughters barely escaped, and many precious historical manuscripts were destroyed. The town meeting passed resolutions condemning this act, but no one was punished. After long controversy, Hutchinson was partially compensated for his loss. In 1769, he was made lieutenant governor of the colony of Massachusetts. After the Boston massacre, Sam Adams, at the head of a committee, forced him to consent to send the soldiers out of the city. Loyalty to the British government brought him into such bad odor with the neighbors that he finally obtained leave of absence and sailed for England, June 1, 1773. The British governor commended his official acts. The king rewarded him with a pension. Hutchinson's name is remembered now chiefly in connection with historical documents. Prior to leaving America he published a History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, from the First Settlement Thereof, in 1628, until the Year 1750; Brief Statement of the Claim of the Colonies, and A Collection of Original Papers Relative to the History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. He also kept a diary which was published with his letters in 1804. Although his memory was bitterly assailed as that of a traitor, he is rather to be regarded as a high-minded, conservative man, who tried to do his duty under difficult circumstances--one who wavered between loyalty to his king and affection for his native commonwealth.