Edward Bartholomew Bancroft ( – September 7, 1821) was an American physician and chemist who became a
double agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
, spying for both the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
while serving as secretary to the American commission in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
.
Early life
Bancroft was born on January 20, 1745, in
Westfield,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. His father died of an epileptic seizure when Bancroft was two years old, and his mother remarried five years later to David Bull of
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
.
There Bancroft studied under
Silas Deane
Silas Deane (September 23, 1789) was an American merchant, politician, and diplomat, and a supporter of American independence. Deane served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and then became t ...
, a schoolmaster who later became an important politician and diplomat with whom he would work in Paris. At the age of sixteen, Bancroft was apprenticed to a physician in
Killingworth, Connecticut
Killingworth is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut, Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning ...
, but after a few years ran away. (Bancroft returned and repaid his debt to his former master in 1766.)
South America and London
On July 14, 1763, after fleeing his apprenticeship, Bancroft left New England for the sugar-producing slave colonies of Dutch Guiana, where he became a plantation doctor.
He soon expanded his practice to multiple plantations and wrote a study of the local environment. Based on observations of experiments already being performed on live eels by Dutch colonists in and around Surinam and Essequibo, Bancroft concluded that
American eels and
torpedo fish
The electric rays are a group of rays, flattened cartilaginous fish with enlarged pectoral fins, composing the order Torpediniformes . They are known for being capable of producing an electric discharge, ranging from 8 to 220 volts, depending ...
discharged electricity to stun their prey, rather than by an imperceptibly swift mechanical action, as had previously been argued. Although he left South America in 1766, he published ''An Essay on the Natural History of Guiana, in South America'' in London 1769, where with the encouragement of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
, he embarked on a career as a man of letters. Bancroft later wrote extensively about the chemistry of dyes, based in part on his work in Dutch Guiana, contrasting non-European dyeing techniques unfavorably with the learned "philosophical chemistry" of natural philosophers like himself.
In London, Bancroft's ''Natural History of Guiana'' (1769) attracted the attention of
Paul Wentworth,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
's colonial agent in London, who hired Bancroft to survey Wentworth's plantation in
Surinam and make recommendations for more efficient operation. Bancroft spent two months there before returning to London. While in Surinam, Bancroft wrote a three-volume, semi-autobiographical novel, ''The History of Charles Wentworth, Esq''. The
epistolary novel
An epistolary novel () is a novel written as a series of letters between the fictional characters of a narrative. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse other kinds of fictional document with the letters, most commonly di ...
, which follows the life of a plantation owner (with the same surname as his friend and employer), imitates
Voltaire's ''
Candide
( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...
'' and reflects Bancroft's
deistic
Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin term ''deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation o ...
beliefs, ridiculing passages in the Bible and criticizing Christianity for its "detestable spirit of intolerance and persecution."
In 1771 Edward married the twenty-two year old Penelope Fellows, daughter of a prominent Catholic family. A son,
Edward
Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...
, was born in 1772; they eventually had six more children. Bancroft was elected a
fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1773 as "a gentleman versed in natural history and Chymistry, and author of the natural history of Guiana". In the summer of 1773, Bancroft joined the
Medical Society of London
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
, though he did not receive his
M.D.
A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...
from the
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...
until 1774.
Spying for the Americans in London
When the
Committee of Secret Correspondence
The Committee of Secret Correspondence was a committee formed by the Second Continental Congress and active from 1775 to 1776. The Committee played a large role in attracting France, French France in the American Revolutionary War, aid and allianc ...
sent Silas Deane (Bancroft's former teacher) to France in 1776, Franklin instructed Deane to contact Bancroft, believing he would be a source of useful information. Deane arrived in France on June 7, 1776; the next day he wrote to Bancroft in London, asking him to come to Paris. In the letter, Deane said they would discuss procuring goods for trading with the
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Associated with India
* of or related to India
** Indian people
** Indian diaspora
** Languages of India
** Indian English, a dialect of the English language
** Indian cuisine
Associated with indigenous peoples o ...
, and he enclosed thirty
pounds (a generous amount) for travel expenses. Deane did not mention political issues in case the letter was intercepted. Bancroft met with Deane on July 8 and learned that Deane's purpose in France was to win French aid for the Americans against Britain. While Bancroft declined the invitation to attend negotiations, he did serve as Deane's assistant and interpreter. Deane's negotiations resulted in France sending some supplies to the Americans.
Deane told Bancroft that American leaders hoped to embroil Britain in a war against other foes (specifically, an alliance of France and
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
), which they hoped would distract Britain. Though Deane and other Americans thought France would form an alliance, the ploy came to nothing. Nevertheless, it greatly troubled Bancroft. On July 26, 1776, Bancroft returned to London, assuring Deane that he would spy for the colonies.
In London, Bancroft sent copies of recent newspapers and pamphlets on current affairs and long letters to Deane to keep the Americans informed about the thinking of the British government and people. Bancroft arranged to have his dispatches smuggled into France in French diplomatic pouches to avoid having them opened by the London post office. In December 1776, the arsonist
John the Painter set a fire near the
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
dock and then visited Bancroft. Bancroft refused to give him any assistance.
Spying for the British
Though Bancroft had worked for Franklin and Deane, he was unenthusiastic about American independence, and the possibility of a French war against Britain alarmed him. Despite his promise to Deane, he had reservations about doing anything that might promote a rift between Britain and the American colonies.
In London he met Paul Wentworth, recently recruited by the British Secret Service. Wentworth arranged for Bancroft to meet Secret Service chief
William Eden and Lords
Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
and
Weymouth, where Bancroft agreed to become a spy for Britain. A couple of days later, on August 14, 1776, Bancroft composed a nine-page report detailing what Deane had been able to accomplish since arriving in France. In early February 1777, Bancroft visited John the Painter while he was in prison in London.
Soon after this, Franklin arrived to take over the negotiations with France. Bancroft was ordered to associate himself with Franklin. Fortuitously, Franklin appointed Bancroft as secretary to the American Commission in Paris. On March 26, 1777, Bancroft departed London for Paris, where his wife and children joined him two months later. For his spying, the British promised Bancroft a pension of £200. (This amount was later increased to £500 and then £1,000.)
Bancroft assisted Franklin and Deane by copying letters and other documents, by translating diplomatic correspondence into French or English, and by arranging for repairs, hiring crews, and buying supplies for American ships in French ports. Thus Bancroft had access to much sensitive information that he was able to pass along to the British.
Bancroft reported under the cover of weekly letters to "Mr. Richards", signed "Edward Edwards", about "gallantry" (exploits with women). But between the lines of the cover text, Bancroft wrote his reports in a special ink. Every Tuesday after 9:30 PM, he put the letter in a bottle, tied a string around it, and left it in a hole in a certain
box tree in Paris.
A British official retrieved the message and replaced it with new orders. Bancroft would return later that night to recover the bottle. Through this method,
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
may have seen the
French-American Treaty of Alliance just two days after it was signed.
Bancroft was "successful but ineffective"; that is, though he gathered a good deal of information, the British were unable to prevent a Franco-American alliance.
In December 1777,
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...
arrived in France, expecting to be given command of the ship
''Indien'' being built in Amsterdam. Because of intelligence provided by Bancroft, the British successfully pressured the Dutch to cancel the sale of the ship. Nevertheless, with smaller vessels, Jones successfully raided coastal towns in England and Ireland and captured two British warships despite regular intelligence provided the British by Bancroft. Unaware that Bancroft was a British spy, Jones and Bancroft became close friends, and Jones even used him as an intermediary with Franklin. In the summer of 1777,
Arthur Lee charged that Bancroft had met with members of king's privy council; and in April 1778, a sea captain named Musco Livingston told Lee that in London he had seen a letter written by Bancroft that provided details about the French treaty before it had been signed. When Lee accused Bancroft of being a traitor, Jones came to his defense; and in early 1779, Jones convinced Livingston to retract his accusation. (Livingston's accusations had been true, but the rumor that Bancroft had met with the privy council was not.)
Franklin's possible knowledge of Bancroft's intrigue
On January 19, 1777, Franklin wrote to Juliana Ritchie, a woman living in a Benedictine convent in
Cambrai
Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river.
A sub-pref ...
, that even if he suspected his valet to be a spy, "as he probably is, I think I should not discharge him for that, if in other Respects I lik'd him."
Although some historians believe the letter indicates Franklin's suspicion of Bancroft, others have noted that after the war, Franklin remained on good terms with Bancroft while he shunned other
Loyalists
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
, including his own son,
William
William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
. The vast majority of historians reject the thesis that Franklin was in any way disloyal to the United States.
Death of Silas Deane
After the death of former American diplomat
Silas Deane
Silas Deane (September 23, 1789) was an American merchant, politician, and diplomat, and a supporter of American independence. Deane served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and then became t ...
in 1789 aboard a ship about to sail to America, Bancroft suggested in a private conversation that Deane had committed suicide. The following year an anonymous pamphlet, ''Theodosius'', attacked the scientist and clergyman
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, English Separatist, separatist theologian, Linguist, grammarian, multi-subject educator and Classical libera ...
by claiming that while dying, Deane had uttered blasphemous and atheistic statements that he had supposedly derived from Priestley. Priestley, who had never met Deane, pleaded with Bancroft to set the record straight. Bancroft responded by publishing in several newspapers an account provided by the ship's captain, which stated that Deane had become suddenly ill and had been unable to say anything comprehensible during the four hours before his death.
In 1959, historian
Julian Boyd suggested that Bancroft might have poisoned Deane, then spread rumors that Deane had committed suicide in an attempt to cover up the murder. In the years since Boyd's articles appeared, his thesis has been largely dismissed as "ungrounded conjectures"; nevertheless, the theory has been widely publicized in a popular American textbook: James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle, ''After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection'' (Boston: McGraw Hill, 1982
ixth edition, 2010.
Life after the Revolutionary War
Following the Revolutionary War, Bancroft obtained patents to import
black oak into Britain and France to be turned into a yellow dye called
quercitron
Quercitron is a yellow natural dye obtained from the bark of the Eastern Black Oak (''Quercus velutina''), a forest tree indigenous in North America. It was formerly called Dutch pink, English pink, or Italian pink.
The name is a shortened for ...
; and he convinced
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...
to invest a large sum in the business. In 1789 Jones accused Bancroft of fraud and withholding money owed him.
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to the ...
tried to mediate the dispute, and Bancroft did make small payments to Jones; but when Jones died in July 1792, Bancroft apparently still owed him £1,800.
In 1794, Bancroft published ''Experimental Researches Concerning the Philosophy of Permanent Colors'', a book he updated in 1814.
[E. Bancroft (1814]
Experimental Researches Concerning the Philosophy of Permanent Colors, volume 1
volume 2
links from HathiTrust He was also elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 1797.
Bancroft's wife, Penelope, died on May 10, 1784, at home in London while Bancroft was on a trip to Philadelphia. Bancroft himself died on September 7, 1821, at Addington Place in
Margate
Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...
. Bancroft's activity as a double agent was not revealed until 1891, when British diplomatic papers were released to the public.
See also
*
Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ...
*
Intelligence operations in the American Revolutionary War
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ...
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bancroft, Edward
1745 births
1821 deaths
18th-century American physicians
Double agents
People from colonial Massachusetts
Alumni of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the Royal Society
American deists
American critics of Christianity
British spies during the American Revolution
American spies during the American Revolution
People from Westfield, Massachusetts
British deists