CAMBRIDGE, JOHN, land agent and businessman; b. 13 Dec. 1748 in
England; m. 16 Jan. 1775 Mary Winchester, and they had ten
children, only four of whom reached maturity; d. 26 Dec. 1831 in
Bristol, England. Before his arrival on St John’s (Prince
Edward) Island in 1784, John Cambridge remains a shadowy figure
in historical records. A Privy Council report of 1791 identifies
him as being “formerly an obscure chairmaker in St. Martin’s
Lane” but there are indications that as early as 1777 he was
associated with a group of merchants who planned to trade with
and promote settlement on St John’s Island. One of this group
was the Quaker colonizer Robert Clark* and it may have been the
religious link that brought the two men together. Cambridge was
known on the Island as a Quaker, and he refused to take oaths in
court on religious principles. Nevertheless, he was not
connected with the Society of Friends. Indeed, he wrote in 1793
that although “in full belief of Friends principles” he was not
“united to the Society.”