Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir John Wentworth, Bt
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Wentworth by Robert Field, (Government House (Nova Scotia))
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| Governor of the Province of New Hampshire | |
| In office 1767–1775 |
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| Preceded by | Benning Wentworth |
| Succeeded by | Meshech Weare (as Governor of New Hampshire) |
| Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Nova Scotia | |
| In office 1792–1808 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | John Parr |
| Succeeded by | Sir George Prévost |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 August 1737 Portsmouth, New Hampshire |
| Died | 8 April 1820 (aged 82) Halifax, Nova Scotia |
| Spouse | Frances Atkinson |
| Signature |  |
Sir John Wentworth (born August 9, 1737 – died April 8, 1820) was an important British leader in North America. He served as the colonial governor of New Hampshire during the time of the American Revolution. Later, he became the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. He is buried in St. Paul's Church in Halifax.
Contents
John Wentworth's Early Life and Education
John Wentworth was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on August 9, 1737. His family had been important settlers in New Hampshire for a long time. His grandfather, also named John Wentworth, was a lieutenant governor in the 1720s. His uncle, Benning Wentworth, was also a governor.
John's father, Mark, owned a lot of land and was a successful merchant. His mother, Elizabeth Rindge Wentworth, came from a well-known family too. In 1751, John went to Harvard College. He earned his first degree in 1755 and a master's degree in 1758. While at Harvard, he became good friends with John Adams, who later became a Founding Father and President of the United States.
First Steps in Business and Politics
In 1759, John Wentworth made his first big investment. He joined a group to buy and develop land near Lake Winnipesaukee. This group created the town of Wolfeboro.
In 1763, his father sent him to London to help with their family's business. In London, John met many important British people. He became friends with the Marquess of Rockingham, a powerful politician. In 1765, New Hampshire chose Wentworth to represent them in London. That same year, Rockingham became Prime Minister and helped to cancel the unpopular Stamp Act. Wentworth supported the colonies against this tax.
John's uncle, Governor Benning Wentworth, had been selling land in areas that New Hampshire did not truly own. In 1764, British officials decided that this land (which later became Vermont) belonged to New York. Governor Benning was asked to resign. John Wentworth stepped in and convinced the officials to let his uncle resign gracefully, allowing John to take his place.
In August 1766, John was made Governor of New Hampshire. He also became the Surveyor General of the King's Woods in North America. Before returning home, he received an honorary degree from Oxford University. He arrived in Portsmouth on June 13, 1767, to a grand welcome.
Governor of New Hampshire (1767-1775)
As governor, Wentworth made many changes to help New Hampshire grow. He divided the province into five counties. This helped to spread out government and legal duties, making things easier for people far from Portsmouth. He named some counties after British leaders and one, Strafford County, after a distant relative.
Building Roads and Improving the Militia
Wentworth also started building roads to connect the main towns. Even though the local assembly did not want to pay for new roads, Wentworth used money from land taxes to fund the work. By 1771, he had built over 200 miles (320 km) of roads. In the same year, he convinced the assembly to pay for the first detailed map of the province.
He also made the provincial militia stronger. When he arrived, the militia had about 10,000 men who were not well-trained. He added 1,600 men and three new groups, and he often attended their training sessions.
Dealing with Growing Tensions
Wentworth tried to keep New Hampshire calm during the rising tensions with Britain. He did not want the province to join boycotts against British goods. He believed that government changes would work better than sending troops. However, New Hampshire businesses were eventually forced to boycott British goods when Massachusetts threatened to stop trading with them.
After the Boston Tea Party in 1773, Wentworth successfully prevented a similar event in Portsmouth. He made sure a ship carrying tea landed its cargo and stored it safely. The townspeople still did not want the tea there. So, local merchants arranged for the tea to be sent to Halifax.
Wentworth's popularity began to drop as tensions grew. When the port of Boston was closed, Governor Thomas Gage of Massachusetts asked Wentworth to find carpenters in New Hampshire to build army barracks. When this secret plan was revealed, people called Wentworth an "enemy."
On December 14, 1774, local militia, now controlled by revolutionary groups, marched on Fort William and Mary. They seized the province's weapons and gunpowder. Wentworth had warned the fort and asked for naval help, but it arrived too late.
Leaving New Hampshire
Wentworth asked for more soldiers but received none. He realized that trying to arrest the rebel leaders would cause a bigger uprising. He gathered a small group of loyal men to protect him and his property. Many loyalists began to flee to Boston for safety.
Even after the Battles of Lexington and Concord started the war in April 1775, Wentworth tried to hold a meeting of the provincial assembly in May. However, the assembly was full of rebel supporters. They refused to consider a peace plan from Prime Minister Lord North. Wentworth closed the assembly, hoping things would calm down.
They did not. On May 30, rebels began taking over and fortifying Portsmouth. On June 13, 1775, a group of armed men surrounded Wentworth's house. He and his family fled to Fort William and Mary, which was protected by a British ship. Conditions worsened, and on August 23, Wentworth boarded the ship and sailed to Boston.
He sent his family to England and stayed in Boston until the British army left for Halifax in March 1776. He finally sailed to England in early 1778. The new New Hampshire government took most of his property, but they allowed his family to keep portraits and furniture from their Portsmouth home.
Surveyor General of the King's Woods
After leaving New Hampshire, Wentworth hoped to become Governor of Nova Scotia. However, the government changed, and someone else got the job. To make things worse, his job as Surveyor General of the King's Woods was removed to save money. This was a very difficult time for Wentworth.
However, the government changed again, and Wentworth successfully got his surveyor-general job back. He returned to Halifax in 1783, and his wife, Frances, joined him in 1784.
The job of Surveyor General was often seen as an easy one, but Wentworth took it very seriously. People thought North America had endless forests for building ships and towns. But Wentworth saw that the old-growth forests were disappearing. He knew the Royal Navy needed tall, straight pine trees for ship masts. Since Britain had lost a lot of its forest land in North America, he wanted to protect the remaining important trees.
For the next seven years Wentworth traveled through the woods of eastern British North America, showing amazing strength and bravery. He could truly say that his journeys were so tough that no one could stay with him for an entire trip. The areas of timber that John Wentworth protected between 1783 and 1791 not only gave the Royal Navy the masts they needed to defeat Napoleon, but also helped create future rules for government-owned land in what is now Canada.
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (1792-1808)
In 1791, the Wentworths sailed to England to deal with their money problems. While there, they heard that the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia had died. John and Frances immediately worked to get him the job. Based on his experience, John was chosen. He became the first civilian governor of Nova Scotia.
Leading Nova Scotia
Before Wentworth arrived, there was a lot of disagreement between different groups of settlers in Nova Scotia. The colony was also in debt from settling new loyalists. As a loyalist himself, Wentworth favored loyalists for higher government jobs, but he tried to be fair with lower jobs. This led to loyalists holding more power for many years.
He improved the colony's money situation by adding a tax on all imported goods. By the end of 1793, some of the colony's debt had been paid off.
In April 1793, news arrived that Britain was at war with France. Most of the soldiers in Nova Scotia were sent away. Wentworth was told to call up the local militia and create a new provincial regiment of 600 men for defense. He worked hard on this, even though he had no military experience. The Royal Nova Scotia Regiment became strong within a year and served until the war ended in 1802.
Royal Connections and Prosperity
In May 1794, another royal prince, Prince Edward, arrived in Halifax. He was the fourth son of King George III and was in charge of the King's forces in Nova Scotia. Wentworth was happy about this, as he had argued with the previous commander. The Wentworths also welcomed Prince Edward's companion, Julie, Madame de Saint-Laurent, which pleased the Prince.
The two couples became good friends. Wentworth offered the Prince the use of his small estate outside of town, which is now known as Princes Lodge. Prince Edward's influence also brought money to improve the fortifications of Halifax and other parts of the colony. He also gave Halifax its famous Town Clock, which he helped design.
The money coming in for the war effort made Nova Scotia prosperous. A privateer ship, named Charles Mary Wentworth after John's son, earned a lot of money on one trip.
Government House and Later Years
The Wentworths were not happy with their official residence. It was an old wooden building. Starting in 1796, Wentworth got money to build a new, larger stone building. This new building, called Government House, went over budget and took a long time to finish. The Wentworths finally moved in in 1805. This building is still the home of Nova Scotia's Lieutenant Governors today.
Wentworth also improved roads, helped the poor Mi'kmaq people, and set up the first rescue station on Sable Island. A less successful project was a settlement of Maroons from Jamaica, who were later moved to Sierra Leone.
Wentworth initially had good relations with the local assembly. However, in later years, he had increasing conflicts with William Cottnam Tonge, a leader in the assembly. This conflict was mainly about who should decide how money was spent on roads. It grew into a struggle between the governor and the assembly. Wentworth lost support in many areas. With the war with France starting again in 1803 and growing tensions with the United States, London suddenly replaced Wentworth in 1808 with a military governor, General George Prevost.
John Wentworth was knighted and given the title of baronet in 1795. He also served as the Grand Master of the Free Masons. He retired as governor of Nova Scotia in 1808 with a pension.
Family and Lasting Impact
John Wentworth and Frances Deering Wentworth were cousins. Frances had first married Theodore Atkinson, Junior, who died in 1769. John and Frances married two weeks later. Her name is remembered in the New Hampshire towns of Francestown, Deering, and Wentworth. John's name is remembered in the community of Wentworth and the surrounding area in Nova Scotia.
The couple had one son, Charles Mary Wentworth, who inherited his father's baronet title. Charles served in the Legislative Council in Nova Scotia. He died in 1844 without having any children, so the baronet title ended.
Frances died in England on February 14, 1813, at age 68. John died in Halifax, on April 8, 1820, at age 84. He was buried in St. Paul's Church, where a memorial tablet honors him.
Government House is still the official home of Nova Scotia's Lieutenant-Governors today.
The novel The Governor's Lady, by Thomas H. Raddall, is based on the lives of John and Frances Wentworth.
