John Camm (1718–1778) was an
Anglican priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
who served as the seventh (and last
Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
) president of the
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...
.
He was a fierce Tory advocate of the prerogative of the Crown and the established Church.
Education
Born in 1718, in
Hornsea
Hornsea is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The settlement dates to at least the early medieval period. The town was expanded in the Victorian era with the coming of the Hull and Hornsea Railway in 18 ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
, and educated in the school at nearby
Beverley
Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull.
The town is known fo ...
, John Camm was admitted to
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
, on June 16, 1738, and took his B.A. in early 1742.
Career
He became the minister of Newport Parish,
Isle of Wight County, Virginia
Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, ...
, in 1745. From 1749 to 1771, he served on the faculty of the College of William and Mary as professor of
divinity
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine< ...](_blank)
and was the minister of York-Hampton Parish,
York County. He served as the
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...
's President from 1772 to 1777, being succeeded by
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
.
Life
As a leader of the Church-and-College party in
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 ar ...
, Camm defied the authority of his local
vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
, the Board of Visitors of the
College of William & Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...
, and the colonial legislature in the
Two-Penny Acts controversies and the American episcopate debates. He wrote three lengthy
pamphlets, a number of addresses to the King, several dozen essays to the gazettes, and some scattered
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
.
Camm's peers elected him to positions of responsibility throughout his career in Virginia. Governor
Francis Fauquier
Francis Fauquier (1703 – 3 March 1768) was a lieutenant governor of Virginia Colony (in what is today the United States), and served as acting governor from 1758 until his death in 1768.
He was a noted teacher and close friend of Thomas Jeffers ...
, who disliked Camm and alluded in a letter to the
Bishop of London
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
to Camm's delight "to raise a Flame and live in it," admitted that Camm had ability. He was a leader in organizing clerical opposition to the Virginia legislature's Two-Penny Acts of 1755 and 1758: most of the significant arguments about
Crown prerogatives and colonial
autonomy expressed during the
Stamp Act crisis and the Revolutionary War were formed during these earlier Two-Penny Acts controversies. Camm was elected to carry the clergy's case to the
Privy Council in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1758, where he successfully petitioned the King to disallow the Virginia acts.
On returning to Virginia, Camm was drawn into a pamphlet war with two members of the Virginia legislature,
Landon Carter
Col. Landon Carter, I (August 18, 1710 – December 22, 1778) was an American planter and burgess for Richmond County, Virginia. Although one of the most popular patriotic writers and pamphleters of pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary-era Vir ...
and
Richard Bland
Richard Bland (May 6, 1710 – October 26, 1776), sometimes referred to as Richard Bland II or Richard Bland of Jordan's Point, was an American Founding Father, planter and statesman from Virginia. A cousin and early mentor of Thomas Jeffers ...
. He defied the Board of Visitors of the college in their attempts to curb the authority of the president and faculty, was dismissed from his
faculty position in 1757, appealed to England, and was reinstated in 1763.
During the summer and fall of 1771, Camm became president of the
College of William & Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...
, rector of
Bruton Parish Church
Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1674 by the consolidation of two previous parishes in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Epi ...
in
Williamsburg, commissary of the Bishop of London in Virginia, and a member of the Royal Council of Virginia. His small vocal group of Anglican clergy continued resistance to secular authority. A literary battle to which Camm lent his pen was waged in the ''
Virginia Gazette
''The Virginia Gazette'' is the local newspaper of Williamsburg, Virginia. Established in 1930, it is named for the historical ''Virginia Gazette'' published between 1736 and 1780. It is published twice a week in the broadsheet format.
Historical ...
'' in 1771–1774, and this dispute on the episcopate was lost, from the point of view of the established church in America.
Camm's outspoken Tory views did not require him to preach with pistols on his pulpit, as did his friend
Jonathan Boucher
Rev. Jonathan Boucher (pronounced Boo-Shay), FRSE, FSA (12 March 1738 – 27 April 1804) was an English clergyman, teacher, preacher and philologist.
Early career
Jonathan Boucher was born in Blencogo, near Wigton, Cumberland, and educated at ...
. He died quietly in late 1778.
Legacy
During his career Camm wrote three lengthy pamphlets, a number of addresses to the King, several dozen essays to the gazettes, and some scattered poetry. He was an indefatigable letter writer, and his correspondence reflects the major debates of more than thirty years in Virginia. His contribution to American Revolutionary debates was to state cogently the minority viewpoint of Virginia Loyalists.
Camm Hall at the college's campus adjacent to
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location a ...
is named in his honor.
References
External links
John Camm material Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
John Cammat
Encyclopedia Virginia Virginia Humanities (VH), formerly the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is a humanities council whose stated mission is to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating learning opportunities f ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camm, John
Presidents of the College of William & Mary
1718 births
1778 deaths
People from Hornsea
English emigrants
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Virginia colonial people
Loyalists in the American Revolution from Virginia