Early Life
Bancroft was born on 9 January 1744 in Westfield, Massachusetts. His father died of an epileptic seizure when Bancroft was only two years old, and his mother had to support the family alone. His mother remarried five years later, and they moved to Connecticut to live with his stepfather, David Bull.
In Connecticut, Bancroft studied under Silas Deane, a schoolmaster who later became an important politician and diplomat. At the age of sixteen, Bancroft was apprenticed to a physician in Killingworth, Connecticut, but ran away after a few years. Many years later, Bancroft returned and repaid his debt to his former master.
On 14 July 1763, Bancroft departed the colonies for British Guiana, where he became a doctor on a plantation. He soon expanded his practice to multiple plantations and wrote a study of the local environment. His discovery that the torpedo fish discharged electricity is notable. Bancroft grew tired of South America and left in 1766. He spent a year traveling between North America and South America before leaving for London.
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