Henry Bull

Who was Henry Bull?

Henry Bull was an early colonial Governor of Rhode Island, serving for two separate terms, one before and one after the tenure of Edmund Andros under the Dominion of New England. Sailing from England as a young man, Bull first settled in Roxbury in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but soon became a follower of the dissident ministers John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson, and was excommunicated from the Roxbury church. With many other followers of Hutchinson, he signed the Portsmouth Compact, and settled on Aquidneck Island in the Narragansett Bay. Within a year of arriving there, he and others followed William Coddington to the south end of the island where they established the town of Newport.

Bull was a Corporal and Sergeant on the island, and kept the prison for the colony. He also built a house shortly after his arrival that continued to stand in Newport for nearly three centuries, until destroyed by fire. Late in life, Bull became active in the service of the colony, fulfilling roles as Commissioner, Deputy, and Assistant.