{"id":399,"date":"2023-01-12T15:04:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T15:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/?p=399"},"modified":"2023-01-18T16:28:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T16:28:34","slug":"you-cant-choose-your-family-familiar-networks-in-late-seventeenth-century-bermuda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/2023\/01\/12\/you-cant-choose-your-family-familiar-networks-in-late-seventeenth-century-bermuda\/","title":{"rendered":"You can’t choose your family: Familiar Networks in late-Seventeenth Century Bermuda"},"content":{"rendered":"

When historians discuss familiar networks in relation to political positions, they typically talk about the positive relationships which allowed one family member to appoint a close relative to a position of power in a nepotistic way.[1]<\/a> The fact that familiar networks also had negative consequences for one or more members of a family network is rarely mentioned. I came across potentiality whilst analysing a set of Colonial Office sources at the National Archives (Kew) surrounding the practices of Governor Samuel Day.<\/p>\n

Samuel Day was subject to multiple complaints whilst he headed the Bermudian government. In one case (in late 1699), Day asked Basil Hill (an inhabitant) to lie about one Mr Bellamy \u2013 to say that the Bermudian had drunk to the health of King James II \u2013so Day could to arrest Bellamy to regain some money he had lent Bellamy.[2]<\/a> Another deponent accused Day of clipping money for his own benefit.[3]<\/a> A further deponent, Henry Pulleine, declared that Day held a man in prison on suspicion of piracy, but would not release him when it was realised that there was no evidence against the supposed pirate.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Pulleine\u2019s account reveals an important piece of information which demonstrates why Samuel Day willingly participated in these activities. When Pulleine said he would complain to the Council of Plantations about Day\u2019s conduct, \u201cthe sd<\/sup> Day answerd tt<\/sup> he valued not this Dept<\/sup>s nor any others complaints [\u2026] saying that he had such an Interest in England and his father [Sir Thomas Day] a Parliament man yt <\/sup>no complaints could hurt him\u201d.[5]<\/a> Day was so convinced of the strength of his ties in England, and of his family\u2019s unwavering support of him, that he could do whatever he liked in the colony with no consequences.<\/p>\n

Word of Samuel\u2019s activities had obviously become the talk of Whitehall, however, as in August 1700 Sir Thomas Day petitioned King William III in person to remove Samuel from the governorship \u2013 the King acquiesced.[6]<\/a> Samuel\u2019s world came crashing down as he had simply put too much strain on his associates. In this case, his reliance on familiar networks was his undoing. This is obviously a very microscopic case-study. However, it is illustrative of the variety of ways by which networks could impact those involved in them. Networks can remain strong \u2013 as a plethora of historiography has demonstrated. But, networks can also work against the participants, especially if one member strains the relationship a little too much.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> See: John F. Padgett and Christopher K. Ansell, \u2018Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici, 1400-1434\u2019, American Journal of Sociology<\/em> 98, no.6 (1993), 1269-1319; David Veevers, \u2018\u2018Inhabitants of the universe\u2019: global families, kinship networks, and the formation of the early modern colonial state in Asia\u2019, Journal of Global History <\/em>10, (2015), 99-121<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Deposition of Basil Hill, CO37\/3 no.11, TNA<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Deposition of William Brice, CO37\/3 no.11.III, TNA<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Deposition of Henry Pulleine, CO37\/7 no.11.IV, TNA<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Secretary Vernon to Lieutenant Governor Day, 23 August 1700, CO37\/3, No.40, TNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could family pose a problem for career progression in the Early Modern World? Nathan Jopling investigates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2491,"featured_media":400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-musings","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50","no-featured-image-padding"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/57\/2023\/01\/640px-Somers_Isles_Map_-_John_Speed_1676-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/57\/2023\/01\/640px-Somers_Isles_Map_-_John_Speed_1676-600x415.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Nathan Jopling","author_link":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/author\/ntj795\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2491"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions\/404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/more.bham.ac.uk\/crems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}