In the 1618 Assize the Church wardens presented the said William Pollard 'for that he hath contrary to religion and the discipline of the Church of England refused or neglected to receive the Holy Communion ever since he came into the land which is about 2 years since'. (Memorials of Bermuda by General Sir J.H. Lefroy, Vol. 1 pages 131, 683).
He had probably been in the Army because on his arrival he was appointed a captian of the forts. His status and position can be gathered from the previous Assize in 1617, at which the baylie of the Pembroke tribe, Mr Pollard (for so was the baylie named) being a gentleman bred up and sent over by the Earl of Pembroke had used these words to certain people of that tribe that:- "rather than his folk should go up to work at the forts, he himself would lie in irons for them". Mr Pollard was tried together with Mr. Rich (a Kinsman of the Earl of Warwick and baylie of the Southhampton tribe). On confessing their errors they were pardoned and restored to their former commands.
The baylies had the position of Justice of the Peace. They were supervisors of the labour and manners of the people within their tribes or parishes and were remunerated with a thirtieth of the landlord's profits. In 1621 the post of baylie was abolished but Pollard remained on as representative of the Earl of Pembroke (History of Bermudas by General Sir J.H. Lefroy pages 98-103).
On June 26 1620, William Pollard bought a share from Sir Francis Parington in the Virginia Company, from which the Bermuda Company was an offshoot. (Records of the Virginia Company by S.M. Kingsbury Vol. 1 p. 378; Vol. III p. 62).
William's signature has been preserved on a document which he, together with nine other of the principle inhabitants of Bermunda signed in 1622. In this document they set out six grievances for which they held the Governor, Captain Butler, responsible (MSS. of the Duke of Manchester, Historical MSS. Commission Report VIII, Part 2, paragraph 295).
From a letter written by Capt. Henry Woodhouse without date but probably june 1625, it is known that William Pollard was then in England with the Earl of Pembroke on business connected with Bermuda and was expecting to return there shortly. (Memorials of Bermuda by General Sir j.H. Lefroy, Vol. 1, p.346).
Captain Wlliam Pollard was still living in Bermuda in 1629 and is mentioned in a letter from Capt. Philip Bell (Then Governor of Bermuda) to Sir Nathaniel Rich dated 28 Apr 1629 (MSS. of the Duke of Manchester; Historical MSS. Report VIII, Part 2, Para. 416).
After the death of the Earl of Pembroke in 1630, intestate and with liabilities amounting to 80,000 pounds, his Bermuda estate was sold to two london merchants. William Pollard then emigrated to Barbados. THe exact date is disfficult to fix as most of the early barbados records were lost in the fire which destroyed Bridgetown, the capital in 1668. Other factors which may have influenced his decesion to leave Bermuda were the strained relations which he had with three succeeding Governors during the time he was there. A number of energetic and discontented Bermudians came to Barbados at this time. Between 1629 and 1638 there were grants of 67,387 acres of land to 700 odd persons, an average of less than 100 acres each. (H. Wilkinson's Adventurers of Bermuda, p. 260 and Journal of Barbados Museum and Historical Society Vol XIII, Part 4, pg 106).
He was living in Barbados in 1638 and his name appears in a list of persons holding 10 acres of land and over. (Memoirs of the First Settlement of Barbados). This is presumably the estate of about 100 acres known as Pollards which remained in the elder branch of the Family till about 1798 when it was passed to Thomas McIntosh Branch Esq.
William Pollard's will has not survived. His children, most of whom must have been born
in Bermuda, are cheifly known from their wills as the Parish registers of St. John in the
Pembroke Tribe, Bermuda, covering their period are lost. See also Capt. John Smith's
History of Virginia, pages 367 & 374 and note 1907 edition.