Benjamin Vaughan
Benjamin Vaughan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 19 April 1751 |
| Died | 8 December 1835(aged 84) |
| Alma mater | Newcome's School Warrington Academy Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Commissioner, politician |
| Spouse |
Sarah Manning (m.1781) |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | John Vaughan William Vaughan |
Benjamin VaughanMDFRSELLD (19 April 1751 – 8 December 1835)[1]was a British political radical. He was a commissioner in the negotiations between Britain and the United States at the drafting of theTreaty of Paris.[citation needed]
Life
[edit]Vaughan was born inJamaicatoSamuel Vaughan,a British banker and West India merchant planter of Irish Protestant descent, and his Anglo-American wife, Sarah Hallowell, daughter of shipbuilder, Benjamin Hallowell.[2]
He was educated atNewcome's SchoolandWarrington Academyand attendedTrinity Hall, Cambridge,without graduating.[3]He then studied Medicine at theUniversity of Edinburgh.In 1785, during his stay in Edinburgh, he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh.His proposers wereAllan Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank,Dugald Stewart,andJames Hutton.[4]
His broader long-term interest was in politics and sciences, the latter leading to his friendship withBenjamin Franklin.[5]In 1786, Vaughan was elected a member of theAmerican Philosophical Societyin Philadelphia, to which his father,Samuel Vaughan,had been elected a member two years prior.[6]
Vaughan was a political economist, merchant and medical doctor. Through Benjamin Horne, brother ofJohn Horne,he met the politicianLord Shelburne.[7]Shelburne then used Vaughan in a diplomatic role, to try to bring peace between Great Britain and the United States, towards the end of theAmerican War of Independence.He was also a middleman in reconciling Franklin and Shelburne.
He was elected at a by-election in 1792 as aMember of Parliament(MP) for theborough of CalneinWiltshire,and held the seat until the1796 general election(he was absent from 1794). He spoke in parliament in strong defence ofslaveryin Jamaica, in his maiden speech. However, in February 1794, he came out in favour of theabolition of the slave trade.[3]He felt that since slaves could no longer be repressed by ignorance and fear, they should be given inducements not to rebel.[3]During his period in London he lived inFinsbury Square.He was arrested in 1794 on grounds of treason, regarding the supposed invasion of England by the French.[8]
After 1794, Vaughan left France for Switzerland and later to America. His interest in republicanism lead to his permanent departure fromBritain.He settled inBostonand then on a farm inHallowell, Mainein 1797.
He is thought to be the builder (or related to the builder) of Hallowell House inBoston,and it is possible his Jamaican links give rise to the district being calledJamaica Plain.[9]
In 1805, Vaughan was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences,[10]and in 1813, he was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society.[11]
He died in Hallowell in 1835.
Family
[edit]
Vaughan married in 1781 to Sarah Manning, daughter of William Manning (died 1791), and sister ofWilliam Manning.[12]They had several children, including:
- Harriet Manning Vaughan (1782–1798)
- William Oliver Vaughan (1784–1826), who married Mary Argy (1786–1856)
- Sarah Vaughan (1785–1847)
- Henry Vaughan (1786–1806)
- Petty Vaughan (1788–1854)
- Lucy Vaughan (1790–1869), who married William Emmons (1784–1855)
- Elizabeth Frances Vaughan (1793–1855), who married Samuel Clinton Grant (1796–1853)
The family and their descendants remained inMaineafter Vaughan settled in Hallowell in 1797[13]and continue to reside in the town today.[14]
John VaughanandWilliam Vaughanwere his brothers.
Legacy
[edit]Several places are named after Vaughan:
- City ofVaughan, Ontariois in his honour
- IndirectlyVaughan Roadis linked to him as the northern end of the road headed into then Township of Vaughan.
- Vaughan Road Academy,named after Vaughan Road
- Vaughan StreaminHallowell, Maine[15]
- Vaughan Fieldin Hallowell
- Vaughan Homestead,his Hallowell estate, now a museum
- Vaughan Secondary Schooluntil name change to Hodan Nalayeh Secondary School in 2021
References
[edit]
- ^Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 1)
- ^"Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery".www.ucl.ac.uk.
- ^abcVaughan, Benjamin (1751-1835), of Finsbury Square, London.historyofparliamentonline.org
- ^Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002(PDF).The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006.ISBN0-902-198-84-X.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved4 January2019.
- ^"Paras. 151-200. Benjamin Franklin. 1909-14. His Autobiography. The Harvard Classics".www.bartleby.com.25 August 2022.
- ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.Retrieved16 December2020.
- ^Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice, Baron Fitzmaurice,Life of William, Earl of Shelburne, afterwards first Marquess of Lansdownevol. 2 (1912), p. 165 note 3;archive.org.
- ^"VAUGHAN, Benjamin (1751-1835), of Finsbury Square, London. | History of Parliament Online".www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ^"Hallowell house, Jamaica Plain".www.digitalcommonwealth.org.
- ^"Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B"(PDF).American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Retrieved28 July2014.
- ^"MemberListV | American Antiquarian Society".www.americanantiquarian.org.
- ^"William Manning senior???? - 1791, Legacies of British Slavery".www.ucl.ac.uk.
- ^Vaughan Family PapersArchived26 November 2013 at theWayback Machine.Massachusetts Historical Society
- ^Historic Homestead.vaughanhomestead.org
- ^Historic Hallowell.historichallowell.mainememory.net
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1751 births
- 1835 deaths
- British diplomats
- Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom
- Merchants from the British West Indies
- 19th-century English medical doctors
- British republicans
- British emigrants to the United States
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Members of the American Antiquarian Society
- People from Hallowell, Maine
- People from Boston
- Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Calne
- British MPs 1790–1796
- 19th-century American people
- People educated at Newcome's School
- Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
- 18th-century Jamaican politicians
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Members of the American Philosophical Society