Richard Bushrode

Richard Bushrode was an English haberdasher and merchant adventurer who sat in the House of Commons in 1624 and 1626.

Bushrode settled in Dorchester as a haberdasher and was also active as merchant adventurer engaged in trade of cod and furs from New England which he then sold in England and France.

As a member of the group of investors who sought to profit from development of the coastal fisheries of North America, he was one of the founders of the Dorchester Company. The Company managed to establish a short lived fishing settlement on Cape Ann in 1623, but was financially unprofitable and failed in 1626.

However, its members, chiefly Rev. John White persisted in establishing of the New England Company (1627-1628) which by the royal charter from 1629 became the Massachusetts Bay Company.