Edward Cranfield

In the early 1680s, the heirs of John Mason persuaded King Charles II to appoint a royal governor who would enforce Mason claims against the New Hampshire settlers. Mason promised the king one fifth of the quit-rents in exchange for appointing a favorable governor.^[1]

Cranfield was thus appointed governor of the Province of New Hampshire from 1682 to 1685. Although he was the third governor of the province, he was the first governor to be appointed by the king who was not an original settler and he was the first governor who moved to New Hampshire for the purpose of taking office. His administration was marked by hostility between himself and the colonists. His royal commission was one of the most powerful to date with the power to "...to call, adjourn, prorogue and dissolve general courts ; to have a negative voice in all acts of government ; to suspend any of the council when he should see just cause (and every counsellor so suspended was declared incapable of being elected into the general assembly ;) to appoint a deputy-governor, judges, justices, and other officers, by his sole authority..."^[2]

When he arrived in Portsmouth in October 1682, he promptly fired Richard Waldron and Richard Martin from the governor's council. They were two of the most prominent landowners in New Hampshire and opponents of Mason and replaced them with loyalists Walter Barefoote and Richard Chamberlain.

When the New Hampshire Assembly met in November 1682, they attempted to bribe Cranfield with 250 pounds. He accepted the bribe and restored Waldron and Martin to their previous positions.

Of minor note, the only surviving copy of the "Combination of the People of Dover to Establish a Form of Government" was made by him in 1682 and sent to London. ^[3]

In the aftermath of Gove's Rebellion, King James II dismissed Cranfield. When the people of New Hampshire found out, they tied him to his horse and escorted him to his ship.

Cranfield left New Hampshire in 1685 for Barbados, where he was appointed commissioner of customs, where he introduced a 4.5% tax on sugar exports, and sat on the council in the 1690s. He served under Governor Edwin Stede.

He died c.1700 and is buried in Bath Cathedral.^[4]

• Calendar of state papers
• English Colonies in America

Government offices
Preceded by Richard Waldron as President of the Province of New Hampshire	Governor of the Province of New Hampshire 1682–85	Succeeded by Walter Barefoote (acting)