Compiled by Russell Bastedo
State Curator
1998

Royal Provincial Governor William Burnet (April-September 1728). William Burnet (1688-1728) was born at The Hague, Netherlands, the son of Bishop Burnet, a fierce anti-Catholic and friend of William of Orange. When William of Orange became King of England in 1688, deposing the English Catholic King James II, Bishop Burnet and his family accompanied William and Mary to England, and Burnet became a trusted advisor to the King and Queen (and to their successor, Queen Anne, 1702-1714). Burnet (died 1715) was for many years Bishop of Salisbury.

His father's prominence helped William Burnet to become Royal Governor of the Province of New York during the 1720s. In 1728 Burnet was appointed Royal Governor for the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He died at Boston (MA) in September 1728.

Location: State House, Second Floor, Executive Council Chambers
Portrait by A. Tenney after an original (by artist unknown) in the Massachusetts State Senate chamber; Purchased by the State