# Benjamin Gerrish

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**Benjamin Gerrish** (October 19, 1717 – May 6, 1772) was a merchant and political figure in [Nova Scotia](/source/Nova_Scotia). He was a member of the [Nova Scotia House of Assembly](/source/Nova_Scotia_House_of_Assembly) from 1759 to 1768.

He was born in [Boston](/source/Boston), [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts), the son of John Gerrish and Sarah Hobbes. Binney married Rebecca Dudley in 1744 and they moved to [Halifax](/source/City_of_Halifax) around 1751, shortly after his brother [Joseph](/source/Joseph_Gerrish) had moved there. Gerrish set up in business with Joseph Gray, his brother Joseph's son-in-law. With others, he lobbied for representative government in the province. He and his brother were elected to the [first assembly](/source/1st_General_Assembly_of_Nova_Scotia), but Benjamin was apparently out of the province and did not serve. He did serve in the second to fourth assemblies.[1] In 1760, he was named [justice of the peace](/source/Justice_of_the_peace) for [Halifax County](/source/Halifax_County,_Nova_Scotia), a captain in the militia and [Indian](/source/First_Nations_in_Canada) commissary. When [Jonathan Belcher](/source/Jonathan_Belcher) became lieutenant governor, he removed Gerrish from the commissary contract. When Belcher allowed the province's debtor's act to lapse in 1761, Gerrish helped lead a boycott of the assembly which eventually led to Belcher's removal. In 1768, Gerrish was named to the province's [Council](/source/Nova_Scotia_Council), resigning his assembly seat on June 27, 1768.[1] He died in [Southampton](/source/Southampton) in [England](/source/England) at the age of 54.

Rebecca, his widow, married [John Burbidge](/source/John_Burbidge), another member of the province's assembly. She is buried, under her married name Gerrish, at the [King's Chapel Burying Ground](/source/King's_Chapel_Burying_Ground) in Boston, Massachusetts.

## References

1. Elliott, Shirley B. (1984). [*The Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1758-1983: a biographical directory*](https://0-nsleg--edeposit-gov-ns-ca.legcat.gov.ns.ca/deposit/b10537582.pdf). Halifax: Province of Nova Scotia. p. 242&81. ISBN 0-88871-050-X.

- Patterson, Stephen E. ["Gerrish, Benjamin"](https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/gerrish_benjamin_4E.html). Vol. 4.

## Further reading

- Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton (1913). [*The Gerrish Family (Family of Capt. John Gerrish)*](https://archive.org/details/gerrishfamilyfam00eato). Boston: [s.n.] pp. 9–11. LCCN 13012588.

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