Extract from an eight-page inventory of lost and damaged property from the house of Thomas Hutchinson. Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts Bay, 26 August 1765. Catalogue ref: CO 5/755 f.373
Hutchinson wrote to the Secretary of State with an inventory of his goods to request compensation for his losses, totalling, according to the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, £2,218. This source covers part of his claim for goods and furniture.
Transcript
Furniture destroyed or carried from my house and lost the night after the 25 August 1765
| In the great room [parlour] below
|
[£.S.D.]
Pounds, shillings, pence |
| a tea table & burnt china tea set incomplete | 5.10 |
| 12 new walnut chairs all lost except some bottoms | 11. |
| a large walnut table | 3.10 ) total 7 |
| A handsome couch | 3.10. ) |
| a bed & pillar for the couch & a dozen of cushions stuffed with feathers & covered with striped satin | 14. |
| 2 large family pictures gilt frames | 20 |
| 2 smaller size my grandfather & mother [portraits] | 16 |
| 4 large prints newly framed and glazed [with glass] | 6 |
| Andirons [metal support for logs in a fireplace] shovel & tongs brass | 4 |
| large turky [Turkish] carpet | 8 |
| In the closet [small study] | |
| 7½ dozen china plates | 7.10 |
| A case of china handle knives & forks | 4.3 |
| 14 china dishes for the table service | 8 |
| Blue & white tea-set, overplus cups & teapot with silver nose | 5 |
| Decanters glasses mugs, patty pans & other glassware | 5 |
| 3 dozen large hard metal plates, 5 large dishes not in common use lost or beaten up & spoilt | 7 |
| 2 Glass scones [ornamental candle holder attached to the wall] at the sides of the mantlepiece | 3 |
| 131.3 | |
| In the hall [used for dining] | |
| 2 large sconces with arms
[ornamental candle holder attached to the wall] |
12 |
| 2 square Mahogony tables 5.6.8. 2 [tables] smallest | 9.6.8 |
| 3 painted oyl [oil] clothes 36/ 2 large, glazed prints 50 | 4.6 |
| 7 glazed prints 2.10 | 2.10 |
| 8 chairs Morocco leather | 9.11.10 |
| 5 large busts on the mantel piece at 10/sterling | 3.6.8 |
| handsome andirons [metal support for logs in a fireplace], shovel & tongs | 5 |
| Dutch tea kettle & stand & japand tea chest. Japanning was a decorative lacquer or coating applied to metal objects and furniture originating in Southeast Asia] | 2 |
| In the Buffet [large storage cupboard] | |
| 2 very large rich china bowls, delft* borders & dishes, china chocolate, coffee & teacups & plates at least in value. Delft* pottery was blue and white glazed pottery made in the city of Delft in the Netherlands and exported all over Europe in 17th & 18th centuries as pottery and tiles.] | 7 |
| Carpet …&much damaged | 2.10 |
| 56.19.4 | |
| In the little room [used as an office or study] | |
| 6 walnut chairs turky work bottoms & 1 great chair | 9 |
| small chairs 10/ very handsome table 48/ | 2.18 |
| walnut desk & shelves & window cushion | 7 |
| round table 18/. polished andirons shovel &c. 4 | 4.18 |
| a large sconce Mahogony frame | 6.13.4 |
| a very good clock, both clock & case broke to pieces & destroyed | 12 |
| a canvas floor cloth new painted | 3 |
| 45.9.4 | |
| In the entry | |
| A dozen very good cane chairs & great chair | 6 |
| A large walnut table 30/- a large hanging lantern & a small lantern 50/- | 4 |
| 10 | |
| 243.11.8 |
Look at this list of items taken from Thomas Hutchinson’s house, the Governor of Massachusetts, in one of the riots in Boston in August 1765.
- What type of items were ‘destroyed or carried away’ from Hutchinson’s house?
- What was his role as ‘Governor’?
- What does this suggest about the people’s anger towards their representatives?
- What information does this source infer about the wealth and status of Thomas Hutchinson?
- Why do you think he asked for compensation from the British Government?
- What does this source tell us about the value of inventories as historical documents?
- What does this tell us about popular protest to before the American Revolution?