Exhibit 31.1


                                 CERTIFICATIONS

I, Donald P. Gill, hereby certify that:

(1) I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-QSB of First Ipswich
Bancorp;

(2) Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly
report;

(3) Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
small business issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly
report;

(4) The small business issuer's other certifying officer and I are responsible
for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the small business issuer and
we have:

      a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
      disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,
      to ensure that material information relating to the small business issuer,
      including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others
      within those entities, particularly during the period in which this
      quarterly report is being prepared;

      b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer's disclosure
      controls and procedures and presented in this quarterly report our
      conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
      procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this quarterly report
      based on such evaluation; and

      c) Disclosed in this quarterly report any change in the small business
      issuer's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
      the small business issuer's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
      affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the small business
      issuer's internal control over financial reporting; and

(5) The small business issuer's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
reporting, to the small business issuer's auditors and the audit committee of
the small business issuer's board of directors (or persons fulfilling the
equivalent functions):

      a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
      operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
      reasonably likely to adversely affect the small business issuer's ability
      to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
      employees who have a significant role in the small business issuer's
      internal controls over financial reporting.


/s/ Donald P. Gill
- ----------------------------------
Donald P. Gill
Chief Executive Officer

May 13, 2005