Person Burnett; William (1688 - 1729) Burnett William Burnet 1688 - 1729 British Male The Hague, Netherlands 16 February 1688 Boston, Massachusetts 07 September 1729

Great St Helens, Bishopsgate Street, London (1718)

Education: Trinity College, Cambridge; MA (1702); Leyden Career: Had a post in the Revenue; lost money in the South Sea Bubble; Governor of New York and New Jersey (1720); transferred against his will to be Governor of Massachusetts (1728) and of New Hampshire (1729), where he quarrelled with the assembly who refused him a fixed salary Son of Gilbert Burnett, Bishop of Salisbury (FRS 1664)and his second wife, Mary Scott; brother of Gilbert Burnett (FRS 1723) and Sir Thomas Burnett (FRS 1748). Married; 1) a daughter of Dean Stanhope; 2) Anna Maria (Mary), daughter of Abraham Van Hoorne of New York and his wife, Mary Prevost The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in 1711, created as a public-private partnership to consolidate and reduce the cost of the national debt. To generate income, in 1713 the company was granted a monopoly (the Asiento) to supply enslaved Africans to the islands in the 'South Seas' and South America. Company stock rose greatly in value as it expanded its operations dealing in government debt, and peaked in 1720 before suddenly collapsing to little above its original flotation price. The notorious economic bubble thus created, which ruined thousands of investors, became known as the South Sea Bubble. Royal Society roles: Council: 1715-1716 Fellow 13/02/1706 Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DAB; DNB (father's entry); Venn; Dalton George I; Thomas References: P Fontes da Costa, 'The Culture of Curiosity at The Royal Society in the first half of the eighteenth century', NR 2002 vo l56 pp 147-166 Notes: DNB and DAB list him under Burnet. International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Mar 1688 - 7 Sep 1729 NA5646 21/11/2001 Andyg pmab 28/03/2023 RS_NET\JonathanB yes cf1ea6d3-ec57-4c60-be52-7f55bf6534c1