Benjamin Gerrish (October 19, 1717 – May 6, 1772) was a merchant and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. He was a member of the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1759 to 1768. He was born in

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Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, the son of John Gerrish and Sarah Hobbes. Rebecca Dudley Gerrish, by John Singleton Copley

Binney married Rebecca Dudley in 1744 and they moved to Halifax around 1751, shortly after his brother

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

had moved there. Gerrish set up in business with Joseph Gray, his brother Joseph's son-in-law. With others, he lobbied for representative government in the province. He and his brother were elected to the first assembly, but Benjamin was apparently out of the province and did not serve. He did serve in the second to fourth assemblies. In 1760, he was named justice of the peace for Halifax County, a captain in the militia and

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commissary. When

Jonathan Belcher Jonathan Belcher (8 January 1681/8231 August 1757) was a merchant, politician, and slave trader from colonial Massachusetts who served as both governor of Massachusetts Bay and governor of New Hampshire from 1730 to 1741 and governor of New J ...

became lieutenant governor, he removed Gerrish from the commissary contract. When Belcher allowed the province's debtor's act to lapse in 1761, Gerrish helped lead a boycott of the assembly which eventually led to Belcher's removal. In 1768, Gerrish was named to the province's Council, resigning his assembly seat on June 27, 1768. He died in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

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at the age of 54. Rebecca, his widow, married John Burbidge, another member of the province's assembly. She is buried, under her married name Gerrish, at the King's Chapel Burying Ground in Boston, Massachusetts.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerrish, Benjamin 1717 births 1772 deaths Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs