Thomas Hutchinson

Born in Boston in 1711, Thomas Hutchinson was educated at Harvard and built a successful career in trade before moving deeply into public life. He served in the Massachusetts legislature, became lieutenant governor, and eventually governor of the province under British rule.

Hutchinson believed in imperial authority and tried to keep order during years of rising unrest over taxation and colonial rights. That stance made him a target for Patriot anger: his home was attacked by a mob during the Stamp Act crisis, and he later became closely associated with the policies that pushed Massachusetts toward rebellion.

Alongside politics, he was also a serious historian. He wrote an important early history of Massachusetts, leaving behind a detailed insider's view of colonial New England even as his public career ended in exile. He left for England during the Revolution and died there in 1780.