The 4th of July is well known as Independence Day in the USA and this year marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It’s a significant anniversary, as demonstrated by the King’s visit to America to mark the occasion.

Gloucester has many US links, as I have written about previously. John Stafford Smith, the son of a Gloucester Cathedral organist, wrote the music for what became the US National Anthem. George Whitefield, who attended The Crypt School and preached his first sermon at St Mary de Crypt, helped spread ‘The Great Awakening’ across America.

A film called ‘A Great Awakening’, based on George’s relationship with Benjamin Franklin, one of the ‘Founding Fathers’, was released in the US at Easter and has attracted positive reviews. Hopefully it will come to the UK before too long.

One of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence

Perhaps the most relevant connection to the anniversary of the declaration is Button Gwinnett who, as representative of Georgia in the Congress, was one of the signatories to the document. The declaration itself wasn’t signed until 2nd August 1776.

Button was born at Down Hatherley, just outside Gloucester. His father was Vicar of Down Hatherley church but also curate of St Nicholas’s in Westgate Street. For a while, the family rented a house at 10 College Green. He is believed to have attended the College School (now The King’s School), as his brother did, although the records from that time are missing.

After being apprenticed and getting married in England, Button went to America and became a plantation owner – which makes him a slightly controversial character as he would have owned slaves. He wasn’t a particularly good businessman and went into politics, later becoming the Governor of Georgia.

He died after being shot in a duel with his adversary, Lachlan McIntosh. Gwinnett County in Georgia is named after him, and his signature, as it is so rare, is one of the most valuable in the world. There is nothing in Gloucester to mark this historic connection – probably because of Button’s links to slavery – although Gwinnett Drive on the new estate in Longford could well be named after him.