Stede Bonnet - Pre-criminal Life

Pre-criminal Life

Bonnet is believed to have been born in 1688, as he was christened at Christ Church parish on 29 July 1688. His parents, Edward and Sarah Bonnet, owned an estate of over 400 acres (1.6 km2) southeast of Bridgetown, which was bequeathed to Bonnet upon his father's death in 1694. It is not known where Bonnet received his education, but many who knew him described him as bookish, and Judge Nicholas Trott alluded to Bonnet's liberal education when sentencing him. Bonnet married Mary Allamby in Bridgetown on 21 November 1709. They had three sons—Allamby, Edward, and Stede—and a daughter, Mary. Allamby died before 1715, while the other children survived to see their father abandon them for piracy. Edward's granddaughter, Anne Thomasine Clarke, was the wife of General Robert Haynes, for 36 years Speaker of the Assembly of Barbados.

In A General History of the Pyrates, Charles Johnson wrote that Bonnet was driven to piracy by Mary's nagging and "iscomforts he found in a married State." Details of Bonnet's military service are unclear, but he held the rank of major in the Barbados militia. The rank was probably due to his land holdings, since deterring slave revolts was an important function of the militia. Bonnet's militia service coincided with the War of the Spanish Succession, but there is no record that he took part in the fighting.