William Amos Bancroft
Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts
In office
January 1893 – January 1897
Preceded byAlpheus B. Alger
Succeeded byAlvin F. Sortwell
President of the
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Board of Aldermen
In office
1891–1892
Member of the
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Board of Aldermen
In office
1891–1892
Member of
the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office
1883–1885
Member of
the Cambridge, Massachusetts
Common Council
In office
1882–1882
Personal details
Born(1855-04-26)April 26, 1855
Groton, Massachusetts
DiedMarch 11, 1922(1922-03-11) (aged 66)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
SpouseMary Shaw
ChildrenHugh Bancroft, Guy Bancroft, Catherine (Bancroft) De Haviland
Alma materHarvard College, Harvard Law School[1]
OccupationAttorney
Military service
AllegianceUnited States of America
RankPrivate to colonel (Massachusetts Militia),
Brigadier general (United States Volunteers)
UnitMassachusetts Militia
United States Volunteers
CommandsCompany B,
Fifth Massachusetts Militia Regiment,
Fifth Massachusetts Militia Regiment
Battles/warsSpanish–American War

William Amos Bancroft (April 26, 1855 – March 11, 1922) was a Massachusetts businessman, soldier and politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and on the Common Council, Board of Aldermen, and as the Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts (1893–1897).

Bancroft was the president of the Boston Elevated Railway Company from 1899 to 1916.[2][3]

During the Spanish–American War, Bancroft was a brigadier general of United States Volunteers.[2]

Life and career

William was born on April 26, 1855, in Groton, Massachusetts, to Charles Bancroft and Lydia Emeline (Spaulding) Bancroft.[1][4][5] He attended Lawrence Academy in his hometown and Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. After graduating from Phillips Exeter, he attended Harvard Law School, where he enlisted in the fifth regiment of the state militia in his Freshman year.[6]

Bancroft died on March 11, 1922, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was buried in Groton Cemetery alongside his parents.[2][5]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Toomey, Daniel P. (1892). Massachusetts of Today: a Memorial of the State, Historical and Biographical. Boston, MA: Columbia Publishing Company. p. 297. Retrieved April 26, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  2. 1 2 3 "General William A. Bancroft Dies". The New York Times. Cambridge, Massachusetts (published March 12, 1922). March 12, 1922. p. 30. Retrieved April 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Brush To Lead Elevated". The Boston Daily Globe. September 16, 1919. p. 3. Retrieved April 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ May, Virginia A. (1978). Groton Houses: Some Notes on the History of Old Homesteads in Groton, Massachusetts. p. 53.
  5. 1 2 Vollmar, Joshua (October 2022). "Who Was General Bancroft?" (PDF). Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  6. ↑ Electric Railway Review: Volume 8. 1898. p. 107.


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