The Complete List of Participants

The men who dumped tea into Boston Harbor were from many different backgrounds. About one-third of them were skilled artisans such as carpenters, masons and shoemakers. A much smaller number were merchants, doctors, clerks, and the like.

The occupations of all the participants are not known, but the majority were probably apprentices and common laborers, Alongside participants of English descent were men of Irish, Scottish, French, African and Portuguese origins. The Tea Party was also the work of young people.

Two-thirds of those whose ages were known were under 20, including 16 teenagers. Only nine are known to have been 40 years old or older. Most of the men were from Boston and vicinity, but some came from as far away as Worcester and Maine. Listed below are named of patriots recorded to have been involved in the Tea Party protest. Not all of the participants are known, as some carried the secret of their participation to the end of their days.

Biographies of the participants provide interesting insights into the world of people who planned and carried out the destruction of tea. With the ultimate question, who exactly planned the protest still unanswered these stories may have the clues.

From the modern day perspective the Tea Party may seem like a powerful but a largely symbolic protest. But in heated atmosphere of anti-British struggle in Boston, participation in the event that would be regarded as treason was very dangerous. To that testifies the fact that almost all patriots fled Boston shortly there after. Some of them never returned back.

In the below list, not every participant has an extended biography, but those who do provide a truly interesting read for anyone who wants to understand the mystery of the Boston Tea Party.

Francis Akeley (Eckley)

Nathaniel Barber

Samuel Barnard

Henry Bass

Joseph Bassett

Edward Bates

Adam Beals Jr

Thomas Bolter

David Bradlee

Josiah Bradlee

Nathaniel Bradlee

Thomas Bradlee

James Brewer

John Brown

Seth Ingersoll Browne

Stephen Bruce

Benjamin Burton

Nicholas Campbell

George Carleton

Thomas Chase

Nathaniel Child

Benjamin Clark

Jonathan Clark

John Cochran

Gilbert Colesworthy

Gersham Collier

Adam Collson

James Foster Condy

Daniel Coolidge

Joseph Coolidge

Samuel Coolidge

Samuel Cooper

William Cox

Thomas Crafts

John Crane

… Crockett

Obadiah Curtis

Thomas Dana, Jr.

Robert Davis

John DeCarteret

David Decker

John Dickman

Edward Dolbeare

Samuel Dolbeare

John Dyar, Jr.

Joseph Eaton

Joseph Eayres

Eckley (see Francis Akeley)

Benjamin Edes

William Etheridge

Samuel Fenno

Samuel Foster

Thomas Fracker

Nathaniel Frothingham, Jr.

John Fulton

John Gammell

Eleazer Gay

Thomas Gerrish

Samuel Gore

Moses Grant Nathaniel Greene

Timothy Guy

Samuel Hammond

Peter Harrington

William Haskins

William Hendley

George Robert Twelves Hewes

John Hicks

Samuel Hobbs

John Hooton

Elisha Horton

Elijah Houghton

Samuel Howard (born Hayward)

Edward Compton Howe

Jonathan Hunnewell

Richard Hunnewell

Richard Hunnewell, Jr.

Thomas Hunstable

Abraham Hunt

Daniel Ingersoll

Daniel Ingoldson

Charles Jameson

Robert Jameson

Jared Joy

David Kinnison

Robert Lash

Amariah Learned

Joseph Lee

Nathaniel Lee

Amos Lincoln

John Locke

Matthew Loring

Joseph Lovering

Joseph Ludden

David Lyon

Thomas Machin

Ebenezer MacIntosh

Peter McIntosh

Archibald MacNeil

John Marston

Martin, probably Wm. P.

Thompson Maxwell

John May

Mead, probably John

Henry Mellius

Thomas Melville

Aaron John Miller

James Mills

William Molineaux

Francis Moore

Thomas Moore

Anthony Morse

Joseph Mountfort

Eliphalet Newell

Joseph Nicholls

Samuel Nowell

Joseph Pearse Palmer

Jonathan Parker

Joseph Payson

Samuel Peck John Peters

William Pierce

Isaac Pitman

Lendall Pitts

Samuel Pitts

Thomas Porter

Henry Prentiss

Nathaniel Prentiss

Rev. John Prince

Edward Procter

Henry Purkitt

Seth Putnam

John Randall

Joseph Reed

Paul Revere

Benjamin Rice

Jonathan Dorby Robins

Joseph Roby

John Russell

William Russell

John Sawtelle

George Sayward

Edmund Sears

Robert Sessions

Joseph Shed

Benjamin Simpson

Peter Slater, Jr.

Samuel Sloper

Ephriam Smith

Josiah Snelling

Thomas Spear

Samuel Sprague

John Spurr

James Starr

Phineas Stearns

Ebeneezer Stevens

James Stoddard

Elisha Story

James Swan

Abraham Tower

Bartholomew Trow

John Truman

Benjamin Tucker Jr

Thomas Urann

James Watson

Henry Wells

Thomas Wells

Josiah Wheeler

John Whitehead

David Williams

Isaac Williams

Jeremiah Williams

Thomas Williams

Nathaniel Willis

Joshua Wyeth

Thomas Young



Related articles

No other group had more members participating in the Tea Party as the Sons of Liberty.