William Haskins/Hoskins

(January 4, 1735 – May 30, 1786) 

William Hoskins, a merchant and partial owner of William Hoskins & Co. from Boston, Massachusetts, had a run-in with British authorities a decade prior to his supposed involvement in the “destruction of the tea.”  

In 1762, Hoskins, at age twenty-six and not yet married, partnered in business with the younger Joseph Wheelwright to create William Hoskins & Co. Despite the fact that the business was thriving for the new ship owners, builders, and importers, the pair elected to enter the slave trade, established a distillery, and a sugar house.  

The following year, British officials seized a Hoskins’ company ship that had a “letter of liberty” allowing the vessel to remain in Boston Harbor for several days, having sailed from France with a cargo of wine bound for St. Eustasia. The British government charged that Hoskins’ company intended to sell the wine in Boston. The legal entanglements of the seizure not only adversely affected his business but also soured his relationship with the British. From that time on, Hoskins’ sympathies were with the burgeoning cause of revolution. Hoskins & Co. continued its success through the next year until the economic panic of 1765, when Joseph Wheelwright’s brothers’ own company, “Shutt Up,” caused creditors to attack Hoskins & Co. Hoskins was obliged to sell off all the company’s assets to satisfy debts.   

William Hoskins increased his activity in various reactionary organizations, including that hotbed of rebellion, the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrews. He served as Secretary from 1771-1776, was Senior Warden in 1778-1779, and succeeded Paul Revere as Worshipful Master from 1779-1780. This has led to the belief that Hoskins may have been at the Boston Tea Party. 

During the Revolutionary War, he aided the new Congress as “Military Administrator of General Affairs,” beginning in January 1775, a position that led to a seat on the board of the new Treasury. Hoskins remained politically and civically active until his death. 

William Hoskins died in Boston, Massachusetts on May 30, 1786. He is buried in Boston’s King’s Chapel Burying Ground.