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William Franklin (22 February 1730 – 17 November 1813) was an American-born attorney, soldier, politician, and colonial administrator. He was the acknowledged illegitimate son of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading intel ...
. William Franklin was the last colonial Governor of New Jersey (1763–1776), and a steadfast Loyalist throughout the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. (In contrast, his father Benjamin was, in later life, one of the most prominent of the Patriot leaders of the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
and a
Founding Father of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...
.) Following imprisonment by Patriots in 1776 to 1778, William became the chief leader of the Loyalists. From his base in New York City, he organized military units to fight on the British side. In 1782, he went into exile in Britain. He lived in London until his death.


Early life

William Franklin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then a colony in
British America British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...
. He was the illegitimate son of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading intel ...
, a leading figure in the city. His mother's identity is unknown. Confusion exists about Franklin's birth and parentage because Benjamin Franklin was secretive about his son's origins. In 1750, Benjamin Franklin told his mother that William was nineteen years old, but this may have been an attempt to make the youth appear legitimate. Some older reference books give William's birth year as 1731. William was raised by his father and Deborah Read, his father's
common-law wife Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...
; she had been abandoned by her legal husband but not divorced. William always called her his mother. There is some speculation that Deborah Read was Franklin's biological mother, and that because of his parents' common-law relationship, the circumstances of his birth were obscured so as not to be politically harmful to him or to their marital arrangement. Franklin joined a company of Pennsylvania provincial troops in 1746 and spent a winter in Albany in King George's War, obtaining the rank of captain in 1747. As he grew older, he accompanied his father on several missions, including trips to England. Although often depicted as a young child when he assisted his father in the famed kite experiment of 1752, Franklin was at least 21 years old at the time.


Marriage and family

As a young man, William became engaged to Elizabeth Graeme, daughter of prominent Philadelphia physician Dr. Thomas Graeme and step-granddaughter of Pennsylvania's 14th Governor, Sir William Keith. Neither family approved of the match, but when William went to London to study law about 1759, he left with the understanding that Elizabeth would wait for him. Franklin studied law at the Middle Temple, chiefly under Richard Jackson "The Omniscient". While in London, Franklin sired an illegitimate son,
William Temple Franklin William Temple Franklin Jr, known as Temple Franklin, (February 22, 1760, in London – May 25, 1823, in Paris) was an American diplomat and real estate speculator. He is best known for his involvement with the American diplomatic mission in Fr ...
, who was born 22 February 1762. His mother has never been identified, and Temple was placed in foster care. Later that year, Franklin married Elizabeth Downes on 4 September 1762 at St George's, Hanover Square, in London. She was born in the English colony of
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
to the sugar planter John Downes and his wife, Elizabeth (). She met Franklin while visiting England with her father in 1760. They moved to the New Jersey colony in 1763. Elizabeth died in 1777 while he was imprisoned as a Loyalist during the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. She was interred beneath the altar of
St. Paul's Chapel St. Paul's Chapel is a chapel building of Trinity Church, an episcopal parish, located at 209 Broadway, between Fulton Street and Vesey Street, in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1766, it is the oldest surviving church building in Man ...
in lower Manhattan, where she had resided after the British evacuated Perth Amboy. The memorial plaque on the wall at St. Paul's was commissioned by William Franklin from London, where he went into exile following the war. He was a widower for more than ten years. On 14 August 1788, William married Mary Johnson d'Evelin, a wealthy Irish widow with children. William's son, Temple, after a failed business career in the U.S., lived with his father and stepmother for a time, and followed in his grandfather and father's footsteps and had an illegitimate daughter, Ellen (15 May 1798 London – 1875 Nice, France), with Ellen Johnson d'Evelin, the sister-in-law of his stepmother, Mary. William took responsibility for his granddaughter Ellen. Temple moved to Paris, where he lived the remainder of his life and never saw his father again. After Mary died in 1811, William continued to live with Ellen, age 13 at the time, and when he died in 1813 he left most of his small estate to her.


Colonial governor

William Franklin completed his law education in England, and was admitted to the bar. William and Benjamin Franklin became partners and confidants, working together to pursue land grants in what was then called the Northwest (now Midwest). Before they left England, the senior Franklin lobbied hard to procure his son an appointment, especially working with the Prime Minister
Lord Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...
. Franklin was inducted into the original
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
, founded by Benjamin Franklin, around 1758. In 1763, William Franklin was appointed as the Royal Governor of New Jersey. He had asked the prime minister,
Lord Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...
for the position. Bute made the decision secretly to grant the request, not even informing Benjamin Franklin; he intended as a reward for Benjamin's role and a move to weaken the Penn faction. He replaced Josiah Hardy, a merchant and colonial administrator who sided with the New Jersey legislature against the government in London. Randall states:


American War of Independence

Owing to his father's role as a
Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...
and William's loyalty to Britain, the relationship between father and son became strained past the breaking point. When Benjamin decided to take up the Patriot cause, he tried to convince William to join him, but the son refused. After Benjamin Franklin was systematically ridiculed and humiliated by Solicitor-General Alexander Wedderburn before the Privy Council on 29 January 1774, he expected his son to resign in protest. Instead, William advised his father to take his medicine and retire from office. University of Mississippi historian Sheila Skemp noted: " illiamdid not abandon Benjamin, but Benjamin abandoned him." His Loyalist position was a reflection of his respect for benevolent authority which he felt was embodied by the British Crown, a view consistent with his father's earlier
Anglophilia An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents. Etymology The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "fri ...
. Further, unlike his father William was a devout member of the Church of England, which reinforced his loyalty to the Crown. Financially, he needed the salary and perquisites. On 13 January 1775, with revolution seeming imminent, Franklin delivered his "Two Roads" speech to the New Jersey legislature, urging the New Jersey Legislature to take the road toward prosperity as a part of England rather than a road to civil war and anarchy. The legislature instead unanimously issued a resolution in support of the radicals in Boston.


Capture and imprisonment, 1776–1778

William Franklin remained as governor of New Jersey, and secretly reported Patriot activities to London. He continued as governor until January 1776, when colonial militiamen placed him under house arrest, which lasted until the middle of June. After the Declaration of Independence, Franklin was formally taken into custody by order of the
Provincial Congress of New Jersey The Provincial Congress of New Jersey was a transitional governing body of the Province of New Jersey in the early part of the American Revolution. It first met in 1775 with representatives from all New Jersey's then-thirteen counties, to supersed ...
, an entity which he refused to recognize, regarding it as an "illegal assembly." He was incarcerated in Connecticut for two years, in Wallingford and Middletown. He surreptitiously engaged Americans in supporting the Loyalist cause. Discovered, he was held in solitary confinement at Litchfield, Connecticut for eight months. When finally released in a prisoner exchange in 1778, he moved to New York City, which was still occupied by the British.


New York Loyalist leader, 1778–1781

Once in New York, Boyd Schlenther says he became, "the acknowledged leader of the American loyalists, for whom he struggled to secure aid. He also built up an unofficial yet active spy network." He set up Loyalist military units to fight the Patriots, such as " Bacon's Refugees". In 1779, he had learned through his friend
Jonathan Odell Jonathan Odell (25 September 1737 – 25 November 1818) was a Loyalist poet who lived during the American Revolution. Early life and career Odell was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1737 to John and Temperance Odell. He graduated from Prince ...
, and British Secret Service agent John André, that
Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defecti ...
was secretly defecting to the British. While in New York, Franklin tried to encourage a
guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics ...
and active reprisals against the rebels but was frustrated by British Commander-in-Chief General Clinton, who did not support this nor had much use for American loyalists. Nonetheless, Franklin coordinated a multi-colony group known as the Associated Loyalists that waged guerrilla warfare in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. A correspondence between Franklin's collaborator, British general William Tryon, and
Lord George Germain George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, PC (26 January 1716 – 26 August 1785), styled The Honourable George Sackville until 1720, Lord George Sackville from 1720 to 1770 and Lord George Germain from 1770 to 1782, was a British soldier and p ...
led to Franklin receiving official blessing for the operation in 1780.


Asgill Affair

In 1782 Franklin was implicated in the Loyalist officer Richard Lippincott's hanging of
Joshua Huddy Joshua "Jack" Huddy (November 8, 1735April 12, 1782) was a captain in the Monmouth militia and of the privateer ship ''The Black Snake'' during the American Revolutionary War. Following his capture, Huddy was controversially executed by irregular ...
. During a raid, Loyalist troops under Franklin's general oversight captured Joshua Huddy, an officer of the New Jersey
militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
. The Loyalist soldiers hanged Huddy in revenge for similar killings of Loyalists, particularly Phillip White. Huddy was a member of the Association of Retaliation, a vigilante body with a history of attacking and killing Loyalists and neutrals in New Jersey. At the time, some alleged that Franklin had sanctioned the killing of Huddy. This claim was theoretically substantiated by a note left on Huddy's body, which read, "Up goes Huddy for Philip White." When he heard of Huddy's death, General
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
threatened to execute Captain Charles Asgill, a British officer who had been captured at Yorktown, unless Lippincott were handed over to the American military. The British refused, but tried Lippincott. The British acquitted him of charges in the hanging. Due to the intervention of the French King Louis XVI, who interceded with his American allies to prevent Asgill's execution, the British officer was eventually exchanged by the Americans. Despite the speed with which it was terminated, the Asgill Affair temporarily stalled peace talks between American and British authorities, extending uncertainty over the United States' prospects. Ironically, Benjamin Franklin was a senior negotiator for the revolutionary Americans in Paris when the Asgill Affair occurred.


Exile

The
Surrender at Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...
in October 1781 dimmed British hopes for victory, and in 1782, William Franklin departed for Britain, never to return. Once in London, he became a leading spokesman for the Loyalist community. Because of the continued strength of British forces in North America, in spite of the disaster at Yorktown, many expected Britain to continue fighting the war. The British naval victory against the French at the
Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...
and the successful defence of Gibraltar also raised their hopes. In summer 1782, a new British government came to power, who still hoped to achieve a reconciliation with the American colonies. In 1783 he visited Scotland and was asked to be a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Benjamin Franklin dedicated his autobiography (written before the war) to his son, though the only mention of William within the manuscript is the inclusion of a newspaper article in which Franklin noted that his son was authorized to make contracts to purchase carts for the British army. But the father and son were never reconciled; the elder Franklin became known for his uncompromising position related to not providing compensation nor amnesty for the Loyalists who left the colonies, during the negotiations in Paris for the Peace of Paris. His son's reputation as a Loyalist contributed to his position. The British government gave him £1,800 from the Commissioners of Loyalist Claims. That was the value of his furniture; there was no payment for his lands. He also received a brigadier's half-pay pension of £800 per year. William Franklin sent a letter to his father, dated 22 July 1784, in an attempt at reconciliation. His father never accepted his position, but responded in a letter dated 16 August 1784, in which he states " ewill endeavor, as you propose mutually to forget what has happened relating to it, as well we can." William saw his father one last time in 1785, when Benjamin stopped in Britain on his return journey to the U.S. after his time in France. The meeting was brief and involved tying up outstanding legal matters. In a reconciliation attempt, Benjamin also proposed that his son give land that he owned in New York and New Jersey to William's son Temple, who had served as Benjamin's secretary during the war and for whom the elder Franklin had great affection, in order to repay a debt William owed his father; in the event, William transferred the New York portion of the land. In his 1788 will, Benjamin left William virtually none of his wealth, except some nearly worthless territory in Nova Scotia and some property already in William's possession. He said that had Britain won the war, he would have had no wealth to leave his son. William died in 1813, and was buried in London's St Pancras Old Church churchyard. The grave is lost.


Legacy and honors

* Franklin Township in
Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey, was named in William's honor, as was the borough of Franklin Lakes.


In popular culture

William Franklin is referenced in a humorous dialogue exchange in the stage musical ''1776''. During a session of the Continental Congress, John Hancock asks Benjamin Franklin if he has heard any news from his son, whom Hancock calls the Royal Governor of New Jersey. To this Dr. Franklin responds, "As that title might suggest, sir, we are not in touch at the present time." Later when a new congressional delegation from New Jersey arrives, the leader of the delegation, Rev. John Witherspoon, informs Dr. Franklin of William's arrest and transferral to Connecticut. Upon learning that William is unharmed, Dr. Franklin contemptuously answers, "Tell me, why did they arrest the little bastard?"


See also

*
Burlington Company {{No footnotes, date=August 2023 The Burlington Company was a group of eight investors involved in a variety of land transactions, particularly in what is now Otsego County, New York. The company was named after Burlington, New Jersey, where the men ...
*
Proprietary House Proprietary House in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, United States, is the only proprietary governor's mansion of the original Thirteen Colonies still standing. Overseen by architect and builder John Edward Pryor, construction began in 1762 and was com ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* Epstein, Daniel Mark (2017). ''The Loyal Son: The War in Ben Franklin's House''
Description


Ballantine. ttps://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/daniel-mark-epstein/the-loyal-son/ Kirkus Review
Publishers Weekly Review
*. * Gerlach, Larry R. ''William Franklin: New Jersey's Last Royal Governor'' (1976), a scholarly biography *. *. * Randall, Willard Sterne. "Franklin, William"

*. * Schlenther, Boyd Stanley. "Franklin, William (1730/31–1813)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 Boyd Stanle
accessed 1 Oct 2017
doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62971 * Skemp, Sheila L. "Benjamin Franklin, Patriot, and William Franklin, Loyalist." ''Pennsylvania History'' 65.1 (1998): 35–45. * Skemp, Sheila L. "William Franklin: His Father's Son." ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 109.2 (1985): 145–178.


Additional reading

*


External links

* *
The Proprietary House (final home of the Royal Governor)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, William 1731 births 1813 deaths Benjamin Franklin British Army personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession Burials at St Pancras Old Church Colonial governors of New Jersey Founder Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Franklin family Loyalists in the American Revolution from New Jersey Politicians from Philadelphia People of colonial New Jersey People of colonial Pennsylvania Royal American Regiment officers Lawyers from Philadelphia Loyalist military personnel of the American Revolutionary War