American and West Indies: Original Correspondence: New Hampshire (CO 5/934, 937-939): 1762-1775

            Colonial Office 5 is an artificial class which was created in the early years of the twentieth century with a reorganization of records in the Public Record Office, London. Following the first 285 volumes, which deal mainly with military and naval affairs, the records are arranged under the names of the colonies.

The Original Correspondence, or in-letters, are those sent from the colony to Great Britain, and are one of 6 groups of documents pertaining to a colony. The others are: Entry Books (letter books recording out-going letters from Britain), Acts, Sessional Papers (printed proceedings of local legislatures), Government Gazettes (official government newspapers), and Miscellanea. Apart from the first 285 volumes, the CO 5 records have been classified under the names of American colonies, for example; Carolina (Propriety) is volumes 286-292.

From 1768 to 1782 responsibility for the American colonies came under the care of the following colonial secretaries: the Earl of Hillsborough (1768-72), the Earl of Dartmouth (1772-75), Lord George Germain (1775-82), and Welbore Ellis (Feb.- 8 Mar. 1782). The secretaries of state were assisted by under-secretaries of state.

New Hampshire was one of the original Thirteen Colonies in America. In December 1774 armed resistance to the British broke out at New Castle, where Fort William and Mary (now Fort Constitution State Historic Site) was seized by colonists. During the American Revolution, there was a strong sympathy towards the rebel leaders and it contributed regiments to meet its military needs. After the last colonial governor, John Wentworth, fled the Province of New Hampshire in August of 1775, the province was thereafter governed provisionally until January 1776, when Meshech Weare was elected the independent state's first president under a new state constitution.

            

            Contains the correspondence and related documents sent to the colonial secretary of state from the governor of New Hampshire,1762-1767, 1770-1775. The governors during this period were Benning Wentworth (1741-1766) and the last colonial governor, John Wentworth, the younger (1766-1775, arrived in New Hampshire in 1767), who fled the province in August 1775 during the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Material deals with the issues pertaining to New Hampshire locally and internationally during a period of conflict leading to war.

Organisation:

Volume 934, 1762-1767 (UNB Reel 1)
Volume 937, 1770-1772 (UNB Reel 2)
Volume 938, 1772-1774 (UNB Reel 2)
Volume 939, 1774-1775 (UNB Reel 2)
            

Originals are held at The National Archives (TNA) at London, England

TNA CO 5/934; CO 5/937; CO 5/938; CO 5/939