Henry Bull (governor)

Henry Bull (1610–1694) was an early colonial Governor of Rhode Island, serving for two separate terms, one before and one after the tenure of Edmund Andros under the Dominion of New England.

In 1685, during a chaotic period in Rhode Island's history when the colony was being accused of irregularities, and its charter was being threatened under a new King, the 75-year-old Henry Bull stepped into the office of governor, serving for a year.

Uncertainty prevailed in the colony, and two other individuals refused to serve as governor, until Bull, as an octogenarian, once again assumed the governorship in 1690, returning Rhode Island to its previous form of government under its charter.

Considered to be as fearless as he was honest, Bull was elected to the highest position in the gift of the colony, despite the fact that he could not sign his name (he used a mark for his signature in the Portsmouth Compact).

[3] Roger Williams suggested that this group of Anne Hutchinson supporters purchase land of the Indians along the Narragansett Bay, which they did, settling on Aquidneck Island and establishing the settlement of Pocasset, later named Portsmouth.

[5] In April 1639 there was dissension within the new government at Pocasset, and a group of nine men, including Bull, signed a compact, and then moved to the south end of the island to establish the town of Newport.

[10] The loss of the colony's freedoms began to appear when Edward Randolph urged the Board of Trade to revoke the charters of both Rhode Island and Connecticut because of alleged irregularities.

[9] In October 1685 Joseph Dudley was appointed to govern the colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and King's Province, the latter in the Narragansett country (later Washington County, Rhode Island), and Randolph was made secretary of his council.

[15] Then, wrote Arnold, quoting historian Bancroft "all eyes turned to one of the old Antinomian exiles, the more than octogenarian, Henry Bull; and the fearless Quaker, true to the light within, employed the last glimmerings of life to restore the democratic charter of Rhode Island.

[16] During the winter of 1693/4, the Friends' records contained the following entry, "Henry Bull, aged about eighty-four years; he departed this life at his own house in Newport (he being the last man of the first settlers of this Rhode Island) ye 22d 11mo 1693-4 [22 January 1693/4].