Winthrop has been appointed to be the new Governor
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, replacing Craddock. As the main illustration shows, he is putting his affairs in order and
receiving the final rents from his Groton tenants in cash or kind whilst also heading and promoting the immense emigration
project. This involves 11 ships, 400 sailors, 700 settlers plus provisions for them and supplies for the colony. Besides this,
there are four other ships to follow and two more being organised by White and Humfrey in the West Country.
The Reverend Hugh Peter from
Fowey in Cornwall, another graduate from Trinity College in Cambridge is already this year in Salem, Massachusetts, awaiting
the arrival of further settlers. In 1641 he will return to England eventually become Oliver Cromwell’s chaplain during
the Civil War but after the restoration be sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered as an abettor of the execution of King
Charles. He will die on 6 October 1660.
To explain the buildings that are illustrated. At the top is St Bartholomew’s Church in Groton,
the Suffolk village where Winthrop is Lord of the Manor, raising income from rents and dues. He’s not the only one.
Standing outside the church is the Vicar, receiving a tithe from a parishioner, for everyone is still obliged to give a tenth
of their income to the church, as denoted by the ‘10%’ sign set in the grass of the churchyard. This tithe is,
understandably, very unpopular with many people, especially the hard-up who cannot always pay in cash, so give in kind. Here
a farmer is seen handing over one of his pigs.
The building shown as the Ancient House in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk housed a
school where John Winthrop Junior was educated. The Norman Tower in Bury is near to the old Abbey of St Edmund, shown here
to mark the fact that Winthrop is holding meetings in the town, urging people to join him in the forthcoming
emigration venture to new England. Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire is the home of Sir Richard Saltonstall, already mentioned
as a Cambridge Agreement signatory. The butterfly, left of the castle is the male Camberwell Beauty (Nymphalis antropa). It
is rarely seen as it migrates every year from Scandinavia.
