Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/100

Modyford 13 Car. II, pt. i. No. 2). In 1663 he was named as one of the Royal African Company (10 Jan.; Cal. State Papers, America and West Indies, p. 121). In that year he was in Jamaica, and sent home a survey and description of the island (ib. p. 177). In 1664, on the appointment of his brother as governor of Jamaica, he returned to England, and for the next two or three years was employed as agent for the colony (ib. 13 Oct., 29 Nov. 1664, 20 Feb. 1665, 1 March, 21 Aug. 1666, fee.) On 30 June 1666 he was recommended by the Duke of Albemarle for the embassy at Constantinople, as one 'who was bred up in the country, knows the language, and was formerly desired by the Turkey Company for the employment' (ib. Dom.) The recommendation was unsuccessful, and on 10 Nov. following he was appointed lieutenant-governor of the island of Providence, or Santa Catalina, then newly recovered by a party of buccaneers (ib. America and West Indies; cf. ). Having been detained for eleven weeks at Barbados, 'through the ignorance rather than the malice of Lord Willoughby,' he did not reach Jamaica till 15 July 1667, when he found that Santa Catalina had been recaptured by the Spaniards (ib. 29, 30 July, 3 Aug.) He was then appointed by his brother lieutenant-general, deputy-governor, and chief judge of the admiralty court at Jamaica. His commissions appear to have lapsed with the supersession of Sir Thomas in June 1671, but he remained at Jamaica about his private business, and died there in January 1672-3 (''Addit. MS.'' 27968, f. 30). Modyford married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas Stanning of Maristow, Devonshire, and by her had issue a son, Thomas, who succeeded to the baronetcy, but died a minor in 1678, when the title became extinct. He left also two daughters, Grace and Mary. Elizabeth, lady Modyford, died 30 March 1724 at the age of ninety-four, and was buried in the church of Bickleigh, Devonshire.

 MODYFORD, THOMAS (1620?–1679), governor of Jamaica, son of John Modyford, mayor of Exeter in 1622, and of Maria, daughter of Thomas Walker, alderman of Exeter, was probably born about 1620. Sir James Modyford [q. v.] was his brother. He was a 'kinsman' or 'cousin' of George Monck, duke of Albemarle, though the exact relationship does not appear (Addit. MS. 27968, f. 164 b; Cal. State Papers, America and West Indies, 16 Feb. 1652, 25 Jan. 1661, 31 Aug. 1663, &c.) He was a barrister of Lincoln's Inn (ib. March 1661, No. 40; ib. Dom. 18 Feb. 1664), served in the king's army during the civil war, and in June 1647 sailed for Barbados. There he settled down as a planter, buying a half share of an estate for 7,000l. (, A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados), and seems to have immediately taken a prominent place in the little community. When the island proclaimed Charles II and established the church of England, Colonel Modyford figured as a zealous royalist; and on 5 Nov. 1651, as a member of council, signed the royalist declaration in reply to the summons of Sir George Ayscue (Cal. State Papers, America and West Indies, 13 Nov. 1651). Afterwards, however, he personally made his peace with Ayscue, and won over his regiment to the side of the parliament, so that, mainly through his defection or treachery, Lord Willoughby, the royalist governor, was obliged to yield (ib. 7 Jan., 16 Feb. 1652, August? 1653, p. 416). Ayscue renewed Modyford's commission as colonel; but he was naturally looked on with suspicion by the zealous parliamentarians, and in the course of 1653 was deprived of his command by Governor Searle. On his petition to Cromwell, however, he was ordered to be restored, and to be put in the council (ib. 14 Jan. 1654). And so he continued till the Restoration. His name frequently occurs in the minutes of council. On 20 March 1654–5 he handed to General Venables [q. v.] a protestation 'that he utterly abhorred and abjured the interest of the Stuarts' (, Cal. of Clarendon State Papers, iii. 26). On 16 July 1660 he had received a commission as governor of Barbados, dated 24 April 1660, on which Searle resigned without dispute and the king was proclaimed (Cal. State Papers, America and West Indies). Meantime, on 9 July the king had signed a commission appointing Lord Willoughby governor of Barbados and the adjacent islands. The announcement of this reached the island on 17 Dec., and though Modyford had an intimation that it would not be acted on, he judged it right to resign (ib., Modyford to the Duke of Albemarle, 25 Jan. 1661, No. 6). He was then made speaker of the assembly; and though charges of treason were alleged against him, and letters written denouncing 'his treachery in betraying the island to the usurper, and his persecution of royalists ever since' (ib. 29 March 1661, No. 60), the interest of Albemarle bore down all opposition and maintained him in his post till, on 15 Feb. 1664, he was appointed governor of Jamaica, with