William Tailer was a military officer and politician in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Born into the wealthy and influential Stoughton family, he twice married into other politically powerful families. He served as lieutenant governor of the province from 1711 until 1716, and again in the early 1730s. During each of these times he was briefly acting governor. He was a political opponent of Governor Joseph Dudley, and was a supporter of a land bank proposal intended to address the province's currency problems. During his first tenure as acting governor he authorized the erection of Boston Light, the earliest lighthouse in what is now the United States.
Francis Nicholson, Tailer's commander at Port Royal
Jonathan Belcher was first an opponent, then an ally, of Tailers.
This painting was sold in the early 20th century as a portrait of Tailer by John Smibert. Smibert's signature was determined to be a forgery in the 1940s. Although the painting dates to the early 18th century, its subject is unknown.
Joseph Dudley was a colonial administrator, a native of Roxbury in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the son of one of its founders. He had a leading role in the administration of the Dominion of New England (1686–1689), which was overthrown in the 1689 Boston revolt. He served briefly on the council of the Province of New York, from which he oversaw the trial which convicted Jacob Leisler, the ringleader of Leisler's Rebellion. He then spent eight years in England in the 1690s as Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Wight, including one year as a Member of Parliament for Newtown. In 1702, he returned to New England after being appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and Province of New Hampshire, posts that he held until 1715.
Portrait believed to be of Dudley by Sir Peter Lely
William Blathwayt helped further Dudley's career.
Dudley sought to supplant Sir William Phips as governor of Massachusetts.
Depiction of the 1704 Raid on Deerfield