Edward Randolph (1632 – April 1703) was an English colonial administrator, best known for his role in effecting significant changes in the structure of England's North American colonies in the later years of the 17th century.

Life

He was born in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

, the son of Edmund Randolph M.D. and his wife Deborah Master. The merchant Bernard Randolph was his younger brother. He was admitted to

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1650, and matriculated at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

in 1651. It is not recorded that he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

, or received a degree. In 1676 Randolph was the bearer of a royal letter to the governor and council of Massachusetts to resolve claims of Robert Tufton Mason, grandson of John Mason, and the heirs of

Ferdinando Gorges Sir Ferdinando Gorges ( – 24 May 1647) was a naval and military commander and governor of the important port of Plymouth in England. He was involved in Essex's Rebellion against the Queen, but escaped punishment by testifying against the mai ...

, in the provinces of New Hampshire and Maine. Earning Randolph the reputation of "evil genius of New England and her angel of death", his reports to the Lords of Trade (predecessors to the 18th century

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

) convinced King Charles II to revoke the charter of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as th ...

in 1684, and he was a leading figure in the unpopular

Dominion of New England The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was an administrative union of English colonies covering New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies (except for Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania). Its political structure repres ...

. Randolph served as secretary of the dominion. While in that position, he argued for tighter Crown control over proprietary and charter colonies whose administrations lacked such oversight, and he was often given the difficult task of enforcing England's Navigation Acts in whichever colony he was posted to, often against significant local popular and political resistance. His actions were a significant contribution to the development of Great Britain's colonial administrative infrastructure, but he remained unpopular in the dominion. During the 1689 Boston revolt, which deposed

Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...

and overthrew the dominion, he was jailed. In 1691, Randolph was appointed surveyor general of the customs, on the American mainland as well as in some of the island colonies, and a year later received an additional appointment as deputy auditor of Maryland. Having visited all the colonies north of the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the a ...

, he made a presentation to the government with a view to have the charters revoked in the American colonies by the parliament of 1700. Facing a postponed bill, the lawyer filed his evidence in a chancery court. In 1702 Randolph seized a vessel, questioning its seaworthiness, but the authorities of Maryland put it back in the trade."America and West Indies: October 1702, 6-10." ''Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies'': Volume 20, 1702. Ed. Cecil Headlam. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1912. 650-653. British History Online. Retrieved 28 May 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol20/pp650-653. Randolph died on

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

's eastern shore in 1703.

In literature

The fate of Edward Randolph—and the bitter feelings he engendered among the populace—is dealt with in "Edward Randolph's Portrait," one of the stories that make up

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

's ''

Legends of the Province House ''Twice-Told Tales'' is a short story collection in two volumes by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first volume was published in the spring of 1837 and the second in 1842. The stories had all been previously published in magazines and annuals, hence t ...

,'' a quartet of tales that first appeared in 1838–1839.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Randolph, Edward 1632 births 1703 deaths Dominion of New England 18th century in the Thirteen Colonies People from Kent

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...

Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge