SHUTE, Samuel, colonial governor, born in London, England, in 1653; died in England, 15 April, 1742. He was brought up as a dissenter in religion, being a grandson of the Puritan divine. Joseph Caryl, and was educated at the University of Leyden, but adhered later to the Church of England. Entering the army, he served under the Prince of Orange, and afterward under the Duke of Marlborough in the Netherlands, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1716 he obtained a commission as royal governor of Massachusetts, paying a bonus of £1,000 to Colonel Elisha Burgess, the first appointee of George I. He was honest and well-meaning, but obstinate, and from the beginning was engaged in a struggle with the assembly over the prerogative. The financial depression resulting from Indian wars he attempted to relieve by the emission of treasury bills, condemning a banking scheme that was favored by the legislature. He endeavored to make treaties with the eastern Indians, and wean them from the influence of Sebastian Rasle. A controversy with Elisha Cooke with regard to the royal rights to ship timber in the forests of Maine and the conduct of the king's surveyor, led him to annul Cooke's election to the council in 1718. The assembly retorted by choosing Cooke their speaker; but the governor refused to recognize the election. He had a dispute with the general court also over the impost bill, and when he demanded a fixed salary the representatives reduced the amount voted to him in the form of a present to £500, and, on his insisting on an annual payment of £1,000, gave him that amount in currency, worth but £360. In 1723 he went to England to urge his charges against the general court, and was there met by counter demands. The points at issue were settled by an explanatory charter that was signed on 12 August, 1725, and adopted by the general court on 15 January, 1726, which denied the right of the legislature to adjourn at will for more than two days, and gave the governor a negative over the choice of speaker, but contained no injunction for fixing the salaries of the crown officials. When Shute was about to take ship again for Massachusetts, in June, 1727, the king died, and the new cabinet that came into office appointed another governor.