Martin Howard

For the American Civil War sailor, see Michael C. Horgan. For the Wisconsin politician, see Martin F. Howard.

The Honourable Martin Howard
Portrait, 1767
Chief Justice of North Carolina
In office 23 January 1767 – 4 July 1776 In exile 4 July 1776 – November 1781
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	Charles Berry
Succeeded by	Vacant (American Revolution) (Title next held by John L. Taylor)
Member of the Rhode Island General Assembly from Newport
Delegate from Rhode Island to the Albany Congress
In office 19 June 1754 – 11 July 1754
Personal details
Born	c. 1725
Died	November 1781 (aged 55–56) Middlesex, England
Resting place	Old Burial Ground, King's Road, London, England
Spouses	Ann Conklin ​ ​ (m. 1749; died 1764)​ Abigail Greenlief ​ (m. 1767)​
Children	4
Parent	Martin Howard Sr. (father)
Known for	Founding St. John's Lodge, No. 3, A.F. & A.M., New Bern, North Carolina

Martin Howard (c. 1725 – November 1781) was a colonial official who served as the 14th and last British chief justice of North Carolina from 1767 to 1776, and in exile until his death in 1781.

Early life

Howard was born about 1725 to Martin Howard Sr. Although raised a Anabaptist, he became a regular attendant at the Anglican Trinity Church at Newport, Rhode Island.

Career

A lawyer, politician, physiocrat and skeptical philosopher, Howard served as a delegate from Rhode Island to the Albany Congress. Elected to the Assembly in 1756, he served on the committee that revised the colony's laws in 1760. In 1765, Howard was appointed by the Crown, jointly with Dr. Moffatt and Augustus Johnson, stamp masters for Rhode Island. He was the only prominent American to publicly support the Stamp Act of 1765, in his pamphlet "A Letter from a Gentleman at Halifax to His Friend in Rhode Island," (1765) in which he asserted that Parliament had the power to impose taxes on the colonies. They came under attack and their houses were burned. Tax protesters carried his effigy through the streets, hoisting it 15 feet high with a noose around the neck. Howard fled to England and was rewarded by the Crown with an appointment as Chief Justice of North Carolina at a salary of £600. A Loyalist, Howard returned to England when the American Revolution broke out.

Further reading

• Bailyn, Bernard, ed., Pamphlets of the American Revolution, 1750-1776, vol. 1 (1965) for the text of Howard's pamphlet
• Jensen, Merrill, ed. Tracts of the American Revolution, 1763-1776 (2003) p 63, for another copy
• Higginbotham, Don, and William S. Price, Jr., eds., "Was It Murder for a White Man to Kill a Slave? Chief Justice Martin Howard Condemns the Peculiar Institution in North Carolina," William and Mary Quarterly 36 (Oct. 1979).
• Yancey, Noel. "Howard, Martin" in American National Biography Online 2000. Access Date: Wed Sep 14 2018