1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pepperrell, Sir William

PEPPERRELL, SIR WILLIAM (1696–1759), American soldier, was born in Kittery, Maine, then a part of Massachusetts, on the 27th of June 1696. He studied surveying and navigation, and joined his father in his ship-building, fishing and general trading business, quickly becoming one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the province. He was commissioned captain (1717), major, lieutenant-colonel, and in 1726 colonel of militia. Pepperrell served in the Massachusetts general court (1726–1727), and in the governor’s council (1727–1759), of which for eighteen years he was president. Although not a trained lawyer, he was chief justice of the court of common pleas from 1730 until his death. In 1745 he was commander-in-chief of the New England force of about 4000, which, with the assistance of a British squadron under Commodore Peter Warren, besieged and captured the French fortress of Louisburg, the garrison surrendering on the 16th of June and Pepperrell and Warren taking possession on the following day. For his services Pepperrell, in November 1746, was created a baronet—the only New Englander so honoured. He was active in raising troops during the “French and Indian War,” and received the rank of lieutenant-general in February 1759. He died in Kittery, Maine, on the 6th of July in the same year.

See Usher Parsons, Life of Sir William Pepperrell, Bart. (Cambridge, Mass., 1855), based on the family papers.