Grandmaster Haytham Kenway
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Haytham E. Kenway (1725 – 1781) was a member of the British Rite of the Templar Order and the founder and first Grand Master of the Colonial Rite, reigning from 1754 until his death.
Son of the pirate and Master Assassin Edward Kenway, Haytham was converted to the Templar cause at a young age by Reginald Birch, following his father's death in 1735. When not focusing on his Templar duties, much of Haytham's early life was spent trying to track down his father's killers, as well as locate his half-sister Jennifer, who had been abducted on the night of their father's murder.
After being sent by Birch to the British colonies in America in 1754 to locate a suspected Isu storehouse, Haytham remained and established a permanent, organized Templar presence in the colonies. He briefly returned to Europe in 1757 to resume his search for Jennifer, eventually finding and rescuing her in Damascus. Upon being informed by Jennifer that Birch was responsible for their family's demise, the siblings led an assault on his home in France and killed him in revenge.
Following his return to America, Haytham resumed his role as Grand Master. Under his leadership, the Colonial Rite grew exponentially, almost completely destroying their Assassin counterparts, and manipulating the colonial governments at every level.
When the American Revolution broke out, Haytham and his fellow Templars tried to influence its outcome to their benefit, hoping to create a new, independent state where Templar ideals of a New World Order would become law. However, their plans were thwarted by Haytham's son, Ratonhnhaké:ton, who had become an assassin under Achilles Davenport's tutelage and whose existence Haytham had previously been unaware of.
Seeing an opportunity to unite the Templars and Assassins and bring a permanent end to their war, Haytham later struck an alliance with his son and worked alongside him to further the revolution. However, after their partnership inevitably fell through, Haytham admitted that his dream of conciliating the two orders was unachievable and resolved to protect what was left of the Colonial Rite from Ratonhnhaké:ton.