Henry Hawley was the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Governor of Barbados This article contains a list of viceroys in Barbados from its initial colonisation in 1627 by England until it achieved independence in 1966. From 1833 to 1885, Barbados was part of the colony of the Windward Islands, and the governor of Barbad ...

from 1630 to 1639/40.

Background

Henry Hawley was the younger son of James Hawley,Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library: MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. PARISH OF ST. MICHAEL. ST. MICHAEL'S CATHEDRAL CHURCH
who held the lease for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Market in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and, until 1622, the lease for

Boston Manor Boston Manor House is an English Jacobean manor house built in 1622 with internal alterations, intensively restored in later centuries. It was the manor house of one of the early medieval-founded manors in Middlesex. Since 1965 the manor's ...

nearby. James Hawley was a

mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (automobile), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, US * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or tra ...

also trained at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, one of the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court: Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have s ...

. Hawley himself served a mercer's

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

at the Three Cranes Tavern in London. Almost all of his siblings embarked on colonisation in the New World; one exception was his younger brother Gabriel, who left his

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

's apprenticeship to serve in 1622 his mercer uncle Henry Hawley, who newly appointed as the

English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South Asia and Southeast A ...

's chief merchant in the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...

. Hawley's brother, James, had served his mercer's apprenticeship with his uncle Henry Hawley and may have settled in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Hawley appointed his brother William to colonise and govern St. Croix, one of the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

, but the islands were taken over by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

.THE EARLY EUROPEAN COLONIZATION OF ST. CROIX (1621-1642)
Written by Alfredo E. Figueredo. Page 1. Hawley's sister Susan, married Richard Peers, another planter, and in Hawley's absence, the acting deputy governor. In addition, he was also brother in law of Richard Ashcraft (1590–1600). Hawley's eldest brother, Jerome, was one of eight investors in the founding of

Maryland colony The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America from 1634 until 1776, when the province was one of the Thirteen Colonies that joined in supporting the American Revolution against Great Britain. In 1781, Maryla ...

and served in the colony's General Assembly.

Governor of Barbados

As Captain Henry Hawley, he was appointed governor of

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

in 1630, arriving in June that year initially in the capacity of

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle Order of the Bath, KB (c. 1580March 1636) was a Scotland, Scottish courtier and English nobleman. Life He was the son of Sir James Hay of Fingask, second son of Peter Hay 3rd of Megginch Castle, Megginch (a branc ...

. After a struggle over patents with Sir William Courten, Hay had emerged as the proprietor of the island. He died heavily in

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...

in 1636 and, for the minority of his son, trustees were appointed to administer his estate. They made onerous tax demands on Barbados to settle the Hay family debts. Hawley enforced high taxes and tariffs, at a cost of damage to

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

. Modern historians, such as Larry Dale Gragg and Mathew Parker have noted that Governor Henry Hawley's rule of the island was deeply unpopular, noting that he "was universally held to be a

tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

" and a "

drunkard Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

". Some historians have argued that he brought in the first ever

slave code The slave codes were laws relating to slavery and enslaved people, specifically regarding the Atlantic slave trade and chattel slavery in the Americas. Most slave codes were concerned with the rights and duties of free people in regards to ensla ...

in Barbados in 1636 which stipulated that

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

slaves brought to Barbados to be sold should be enslaved for life, although some doubt it ever existed. Darryll Clarke, author of ''Governor Henry Hawley and the 1636 Slave Code'' makes the case for its existence and points out that this slave code is central to historiographical understanding of the history of slavery in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. The first official slave code in Barbados was introduced in 1661 by the colonial legislature.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawley, Henry Governors of Barbados 17th-century English politicians