Locke, Samuel, 1731-1778

Samuel Locke was the twelfth president of Harvard College, serving from 1770 to 1773.

Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1731, Locke received an A.B. degree in 1755 from Harvard, where he held a Hollis scholarship. Locke continued his studies at Harvard with a Hopkins fellowship, receiving his A.M. in 1758. That same year, while still enrolled at Harvard, he began preaching part time at the First Church of Plymouth. He was ordained as a minister at Sherborn, Massachusetts, in 1759. In 1760, Locke married Mary Porter, with whom he had three children.

When appointed to the Harvard presidency in 1770, Locke was the youngest man to hold the office. During his administration, the College was preoccupied by the political turmoil and threat of war, and Locke had little influence on College life. He resigned in 1773, after it was discovered that he had fathered a child by one of his housemaids.

After leaving Harvard, Locke returned to Sherborn and opened a classical school for boys. During the American Revolution, he joined the patriot cause and became chairman of the Committee of Correspondence. Samuel Locke died in 1778.

From the guide to the Papers of Samuel Locke, 1755-[1778?]., (Harvard University Archives)