HE William and Mary Quarterly has printed, in recent years, two articles referring to Henry McCulloh,' the London merchant who suggested to George Grenville a scheme for raising revenue in the American colonies by means of a stamp tax. He is a figure of some importance in American colonial history, and it is unfortunate that so many references to him have been misleading and inaccurate.2 It is the object of this note to clear up some of the confusion which has arisen about his career. The source of the confusion is, simply, that there were at the same time two persons with almost identical names interested in North Carolina. They have been run together by historians, often with commendable though misplaced ingenuity, and a composite biography produced. First there is Henry McCulloch, who became secretary for North Carolina. In i746 he was appointed naval officer at Cape Breton, which had been recently captured, and held the post until it was handed back in I748. He then returned to England and spent five miserable years without any form of employment, constantly beseeching the assistance of the Duke of Newcastle and bemoaning his large family. His account of an interview with Lord Halifax, then First Lord of Trade, reveals how unpleasant place-hunting could be: I informed his Ldship of the Death of the Secretary of North Carolina, which he was pleased to tell me he