James Wardrop (1705-July 1754) was an American merchant and politician from the Thirteen Colonies. Wardrop built a trade network from the colonies to the West Indies after 1744, and by 1750 he was working on acquiring more land for the colonies, while he also attempted to keep the colonies under the control of Great Britain. Responsible for numerous massacres on the frontier perpetrated against the Native American tribes, he was known as one of the most cruel and devious men in the colonies. He died in 1754 while attending the Congress of Albany.
Biography[]
James Wardrop was born to a Templar family in the American colonies. He followed in his father's footsteps and was inducted into the Templar Order in 1720. James Wardrop's main task was to secure land and wealth for the Templar Order. Though the Templars were not yet officially established in the American colonies, men like Wardrop were slowly but surely setting things in motion. In 1744, he began to build a trade network for the Order that ran from the colonies to the West Indies. By 1750, he was working with Christopher Gist to acquire land in North America. Wardrop endeavored to keep the fledgling American colonies loyal to the British government but was not above using his position to line his own pockets.
In a meeting with Templar treasurer Lawrence Washington in July 1752, Wardrop was tasked with searching for the Voynich Manuscript while fellow Templar Samuel Smith attempted to decipher the Precursor Box's powers. Washington was assassinated at the night party in his Virginia estate at Mount Vernon shortly after Wardrop, Smith, and Jack Weeks left the conference. Smith also met his end at the hand of Shay Cormac, and Wardrop was the last one to be hunted down by the Assassin Order.
In July 1754, Wardrop attended the Congress of Albany in upstate New York alongside Templar member William Johnson and American dignitary Benjamin Franklin. Wardrop resided in Fort Frederick and refused to hand over the manuscript to Johnson, saying that it was too much of a risk. Johnson sent Captain Christian Gallin to tell Wardrop to hand over the manuscript or be scalped, but Assassin Shay Cormac killed the captain before he could reach the fort. Shay entered the fort and infiltrated its defenses, but when a guard spotted Shay, Wardrop attempted to flee. Shay gave chase and leapt at him as he ran, stabbing him through the back with a sword. Wardrop incensed Shay by saying that "if everything (was) true, then nothing (was) safe", before he died.