William Blathwayt
William Blathwayt (or
Blathwayte) (
1649?-August
1717) was a civil servant and politician who established the
War Office as a department of the
British Government and played an important part in administering the
Thirteen Colonies of
North America.
Born in the parish of
St Martin-in-the-Fields in
London, Blathwayt was born to a well-to-do family of
Protestant merchants and lawyers. His father, William Blathwayt senior, was educated at
Brasenose College, Oxford and attended the
Middle Temple. William junior followed the same route, enrolling at the Middle Temple in
1665. He joined the diplomatic service in
1668 when his uncle Thomas Povey, an influential London lawyer, found him a post at the English embassy in
The Hague.
Returning to London in the early 1670s, Blathwayt became a clerk to the
Privy Council, a highly influential body which advised the King. He was considered "as a very fit person" to be assistant to the secretary of the council, becoming heavily involved in the administration of England's colonies in North America. In
1680 he became the first auditor-general of royal revenues in America, and after
1685 became the secretary of the Privy Council's committee on trade and foreign plantations - in effect, colonial under-secretary. It was in this capacity that he became a key figure in American affairs. He was responsible for establishing the charter of the
Crown colony of the
Province of Massachusetts Bay, the predecessor of the state of
Massachusetts. He did much to promote trade in America and the
Caribbean, promoting the
slave trade and benefitting considerably from gifts and bribes received in connection with his office (as was the usual practice in his day).
In October
1686, he became the Clerk of the Privy Council. That same year, he married Mary Wynter, a wealthy heiress. His rise was noted by many of his contemporaries; the diarist
John Evelyn commended him as "very dexterous in business" and as one who had "raised himself by his industry from very moderate circumstances."
In
1683, Blathwayt obtained by purchase the office of
Secretary at War. This was originally merely the role of secretary to the
Commander-in-Chief of the
British Army but under Blathwayt the remit of the Secretary was greatly expanded to encompass all areas of Army administration. He effectively established the
War Office as a department of the government, although he had very little input into the actual conduct of wars. Issues of strategic policy during wartime were managed by the
Northern and
Southern Departments (the predecessors of today's
Foreign Office and
Home Office respectively).
From
1692-
1702, Blathwayt served as the
Secretary of State to King
William III. He became a
Whig Member of Parliament for
Bath in
1693 (a post which he retained until
1710) and built a large mansion house for himself at
Dyrham Park near Bristol, which he decorated with numerous Dutch
Old Masters and sumptuous fabrics and furnishings.
Blathwayt retired to Dyrham in 1710 (his wife had died in
1691). He remained there until his death in
1717; he is buried in the local churchyard.
*
"The Lords of Trade and Plantations, 1675-1696", Winfred T. Root (American Historical Review 23 (October 1917): 20-41)
*
William Blathwayt - Virtual American Biographies
*
Chronological Listing of Documents and Events relating to the Massachusetts Mint, Louis Jordan
*
Committees of the Privy Council for trade and plantations 1675-96*
The Golden Falcon Chapter XIII/2 - Neptune*
William Blathwayt: a late 17th Century English Administrator, G. A. Jacobsen (New Haven 1932)
