Gove's Rebellion
A brief 1683 uprising against Royal Governor Edward Cranfield.
In 1683, a brief revolt known as Gove's Rebellion took place in the Province of New Hampshire. Edward Gove tried to gather men from Exeter and Hampton to fight against Royal Governor Edward Cranfield. The group was captured while trying to recruit more supporters. Gove was condemned to death for high treason and sent to London for sentencing. Three years later, King James II pardoned him, and he returned to New Hampshire.
The rebellion occurred during the Restoration Era, a time of widespread colonial unrest that included Bacon’s Rebellion, Coode’s Rebellion, Leisler’s Rebellion, Culpeper’s Rebellion, the Charter Oak Incident, and the Boston Revolt. However, the immediate causes were specific to New Hampshire.
After the Stuart Restoration, the Crown sought tighter control over New England, a region filled with Roundhead sympathizers and frequent violators of the Navigation Acts. King Charles II sent the Royal Commission of 1664 to increase oversight of Massachusetts, but it had little effect. In 1679, he separated Norfolk County from Massachusetts and created a separate royal government for New Hampshire, ending 40 years of union. Local leaders accepted the change reluctantly, still feeling tied to Massachusetts’ political and religious order.
Meanwhile, Robert Tufton Mason pressed old land claims to all of New Hampshire, threatening residents who held deeds from Massachusetts. If Mason’s claim succeeded, they would lose their land or have to pay him quit-rents. In 1682, the Crown appointed Edward Cranfield as governor with stronger powers than his predecessor John Cutt, and a direct order to enforce Mason’s title. Cranfield suspended prominent local leaders like Richard Waldron and Richard Martyn, tried to strengthen the courts and militia, and sided with Mason. This stirred opposition, especially among those loyal to the old Massachusetts-linked elite. Cranfield restored Waldron and Martyn a month later as a peace offering.
Edward Gove moved to Hampton, New Hampshire in 1665 after selling his land in Salisbury, Massachusetts. He was married to Hannah Titcomb, and they had been wed several years before the move. In the 1680 property assessment, he held the ninth largest landholdings in Hampton. Under the Cutt administration, Gove was elected to the New Hampshire assembly and in 1680 served on a property assessor subcommittee.
Quick Facts
- Date
- 27 January 1683
- Location
- Province of New Hampshire
- Result
- Most of the rebels arrested / Leader of the rebellion, Edward Gove, sentenced to drawing and quartering; later pardoned
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Edward Gove moved to Hampton, New Hampshire in 1665 after selling his land in Salisbury, Massachusetts. He had the ninth largest landholdings in Hampton according to the 1680 property assessment. During the Cutt administration, Gove was elected a member to the New Hampshire assembly. In 1680, he was appointed to a sub-committee to a property assessor subcommittee. He was a member of the First Church in Hampton and aligned in the Assembly with the pro-Massachusetts faction led by Richard Waldron. He does not appear in official political records prior to 1680, so it is likely he did not have a career in politics prior to the separation of New Hampshire from Massachusetts. He was known as a heavy drinker and based on records used in his defense, may have had a family history of mental illness.
In mid January 1683, Edward Gove, a now former councilor from Hampton, discussed the idea of rebelling against the governor with other New Hampshire and Massachusetts leaders including Richard Waldron, Richard Martyn, and William Vaughan. He also claimed to have the support of Thomas Danforth. Though they were not allies of Cranfield, they advised against armed rebellion. However, since Gove had been drinking, he decided to rise up anyway. He armed himself, his son, and his servant, and rode his horse to Exeter in an attempt to muster the citizens to rebel against the governor. Along the way, he was stopped by a justice of the peace, Nathaniel Weare. Gove and his party escaped capture and continued to Exeter, where they succeeded in gathering roughly a dozen armed supporters. The rebels returned to Hampton to rally more men, attracting the local militia, who arrested all but one of the rebels.
Reader's Guide
Gove's Rebellion, though brief and quickly suppressed, had lasting significance in the context of Restoration Era colonial politics. The uprising occurred during a period when many American colonists were rebelling against their respective provincial governments, including Bacon's Rebellion, Coode's Rebellion, Leisler's Rebellion, Culpeper's Rebellion, the Charter Oak Incident, and the Boston Revolt. The proximate causes were directly related to events in New Hampshire, particularly the Crown's installation of Edward Cranfield as governor with a mandate to enforce Robert Tufton Mason's proprietary land claims, which threatened the land titles of many inhabitants. The rebellion further convinced Governor Cranfield and Edward Randolph that New Hampshire was becoming ungovernable, and it was used as justification for King James to revoke all New England colonial charters to form the Dominion of New England. The rebellion also demonstrated the tensions between local, Massachusetts-oriented elites and royal authority, as well as the personal volatility of Edward Gove, whose drinking and possible mental illness contributed to the uprising.
Did You Know?
- Edward Gove was known as a heavy drinker and may have had a family history of mental illness.
- The rebels were arrested while attempting to muster more men in Hampton; the local militia arrested all but one rebel, the trumpeter.
- Gove was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason, but was pardoned three years later by James II.
- Many of the men Gove recruited were teenage boys, whose parents petitioned the governor and king for clemency.
More in Rebellions against the British Empire 1-24
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