Bostonians Reading the Stamp Act

One of the first direct taxes levied upon the American colonies by the British crown was the Stamp Act. It was passed through Parliament on March 22nd, 1765 to take effect on November1st of that year. This act placed a fee on just about every paper transaction in every day use, such as contracts, newspapers, playing cards, bills of sale, and the list goes on.

Here are a few excerpts from the text of the Stamp Act:

For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any donation, presentation, collation or institution, of or to any benefice, or any writ or instrument for the like purpose, or any register, entry, testimonial, or certificate of any degree taken in any university, academy, college, or seminary of learning within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two pounds.

And for and every paper called a pamphlet, and upon every newspaper, containing public news or occurrences, which shall be printed, dispersed, and made public, within any of the said colonies and plantations, and for and upon such advertisements as are hereinafter mentioned, the respective duties following (that is to say) : For every such pamphlet and paper contained in a half sheet, or any lesser piece of paper, which shall be so printed, a stamp duty of one half penny for every printed copy thereof.

This tax by the British government was for the purpose of raising funds to defray the cost of the recent French and Indian War, as well as to provide for the protection of colonists from the American Indian tribes beyond what was known as the western frontier. (In the Proclamation of 1763, King George reserved all of the territory west of the Appalachians for the Native Americans.)

The Stamp Act Riots at Boston, America, 1765

The streets of Boston became the scene of some of the earliest reaction to the Stamp Act, and it was not positive. For many years there had existed a large gap betwixt the plain Bostonian blue collar man who may have been employed at the dockyard, as a street vendor, or carpenter and the upper class citizenry. These hardworking folk had tired of hearing themselves referred to as “rabble” by those whose lives seemed to continue unfettered regardless of the economic climate. Stamp Act opponents were well aware that their “betters” depended on them to perpetuate the lives to which they had become so accustomed.

The Sons of Liberty burning the effigy of the tax collector Andrew Oliver

On August 14th, 1765 the likeness of the appointed stamp agent for Massachusetts, Andrew Oliver was hung in effigy in the city’s South End. The large elm used for this “hanging” later took on the moniker of the Liberty Tree. A local Sheriff was ordered to remove the effigy by Lt. Gov. Hutchinson, but was unsuccessful due to opposition by the large crowds of Bostonians on hand. After the fall of darkness 28 year old French and Indian War veteran and now local cobbler Ebenezer MacIntosh led a large crowd incensed by the British crown’s attempt to institute this tax upon them. The mock effigy of Oliver was cut down and brought to the Town House, where legislative meetings were held. Next stop for the mob was Oliver’s office which was summarily destroyed, and the timbers symbolically stamped. The stamp agent’s carriage house and livery was then burned along with the effigy, which was first be-headed. His main house was looted, and any symbol of affluence such as fine china, glassware, and furniture smashed. The wine cellar inventory was “relocated”.

The following day, Andrew Oliver requested and subsequently received permission from his superiors to resign his public office. This gesture proved not enough for MacIntosh, however, who forced Oliver to be paraded through the streets and publicly declare his resignation to the throngs assembled beneath the Liberty Tree.
Governor Bernard demanded that the militia be summoned to quell this growing disturbance. His plan fell through when the Governor was informed that much of the mob was comprised by members of the militia! Eventually, Ebenezer MacIntosh was arrested along with six other protest participants. Although suspected as the mob’s ring leader, MacIntosh and the rest were soon released after threats of more violence were issued. A three hundred pound bounty was offered for the identification of the mob’s leader, but as much as many people could certainly have put such a great sum to good use, it was never claimed. The Stamp Act was repealed in March of 1766. The Sons of Liberty were formed as a result of this Act, having formerly called themselves the Loyal Nine.
Ebenezer MacIntosh was truly a man willing to vocalize his views and act upon them for the good of his peers. This citizen’s response to British rule and the crown’s attempt to keep the colonists “in line” was the type of seed that would soon germinate and ultimately blossom into revolution.

Ebenezer MacKintosh Marker

American newspapers reacted to the Stamp Act with anger and predictions of the demise of journalism.

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Flight Lieutenant Wallace McIntosh was considered the most successful WW2 air gunner in Bomber Command, having downed eight enemy aircraft during his career with the RAF. In a single mission the day after D-Day, he took down three German night fighters, which were radar-retrofitted, and much coveted targets.

The Early Years

McIntosh entered the world in a barn in Aberdeenshire in March of 1920. He was raised by his Grandparents, who moved from farm to farm as seasonal laborers. He left school at 13 to join the agricultural work force. In order to supplement his family’s table Wallace became an accomplished poacher, taking sheep, salmon & pheasant from neighboring estates. Ironically, he later found himself employed as a gamekeeper. I guess it takes one to know one.

WWII

Mr McIntosh flew 55 missions during WWII

At the outset of the Second World War, he rode his bicycle 30 miles to Dundee, aiming to join the RAF, but was rejected due to his poor education. At the urging of a local pastor, the RAF relented and he was recruited. Wallace’s ambition was to serve aloft, but his first assignment was as a service policeman, essentially an armed night watchman. He proved his mettle one evening as a German bomber approached very low overhead. He unleashed his Lewis gun, causing the craft to drop its payload far from the intended target. This incident led to a call to train as an air gunner with the 207th Squadron near Nottingham. On his ninth operation he shot down his first enemy fighter. He took part in major raids on Hamburg in July 1943 and a raid on the rocket research centre at Peenemunde in August.

On the night of June 7 1944 McIntosh was the rear gunner of a Lancaster, which took off from Lincolnshire to attack targets near Caen in Normandy. As the aircraft crossed the coast of France, a German Junkers 88 fighter attacked, forcing the pilot, Wing Commander John Grey, to take evasive action by “corkscrewing” under the direction of McIntosh and fellow gunner, Canadian Larry Sutherland. The combined firepower of the gunners set the Junkers ablaze, spinning earthward. A minute later a second Junkers appeared; there was an exchange of fire which ended in the explosion of the German aircraft. The Lancaster crew pressed on, scoring a successful raid on a contingent of Panzer tanks in the forest near St. Lo. On the return flight they were attacked by a Messerschmitt night fighter. Once again the two gunners opened up, and the enemy aircraft fell away burning as it crashed into the English Channel near Beachy Head. When news of this triple success reached Bomber Command, Air Marshal Arthur Harris telephoned RAF at Lincolnshire and asked: “Who the hell were those guys?” A few days later McIntosh and Sutherland were each awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and received a hand-written note from Harris, a rare accolade.

Lancaster bomber crews suffered extremely high casualty rates

After the war he remained in the RAF, dropping supplies to feed cattle in remote areas during the severe winter of 1947. He did not enjoy serving in a peacetime air force, however and left the following year to work as a seed and grain salesman in Aberdeenshire, where he met his wife Christina, eventually having a son and two daughters.

Wallace McIntosh

Upon retiring in 1985, McIntosh spearheaded fundraising for two memorials to the men of the 207th, which lost nearly 1000 members during the war. His biography, “Gunning for the Enemy” by Mel Rolfe, was published in 2003, and two years later a painting depicting his Lancaster returning from a raid brought public attention to a modest man whose family knew little of his valor until late in his life. Wallace McIntosh passed away in June of 2007 in Aberdeen, after a battle with lung cancer.

Wallace McIntosh

The space for the rear gunner

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