Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/79

 COLONIAL PRESIDENTS AND GOXERXORS

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lie had a long and distinguisiieil career in the British army, and was present at the battles of the lloyne, Anghrini, Steinkirk. lUenheim and Oudenard, and at the sieges of Limerick. Athlone. Namur, Stevensvaert, Menin and Tournay. lie was made colonel of the Royal I'oot, August 3. i(k;2. major-general March y, 1702. and lieutenant-general June I, 1704. On January 10. 1696, Hamilton was created Earl i>f Orkney, and in 1697 became titular gov- ernor of \'irginia. drawing a salary, but not performing any duties. On February 12. 1707. tie was elected one of the sixteen representa- tive peers of Scotland to sit in the first parlia- ment of Great r>ritain. In 1710 he was sworn of the privy council, and the same year was appointed general of the Foot in Flanders. He was likewise appointed afterwards constable, governor and captain of Edinburgh Castle, lord lieutenant of the county of Clydesdale, and on June 12, 1736. held marshal oi ""all of his majesty's forces." On November 25. 1695, he married his cousin, Elizabeth Villiers, the well known mistress of William HL, and from this marriage the present Earl of Orkney is descended. Orkney was no military strate- gist, and was not very successful when first in command.but he was an admirable subordinate. He died at his residence in Albemarle street, London on January 29. 1737. and was buried at Taplow. and September 6 of that year was succeeded as governor-in-chief of \'irginia by the Earl of Albemarle.

Nott, Edward, lieutenant-go\ ernor of \'ir- ginia under ihe Earl of Orkney, from August 18, 1705. to August 23. 1706. was born in Eng- land in 1657. He served very gallantly in the West Indies as major and colonel of a regi- ment. On August 15. 1705, he succeeded Col- onel Francis Nicholson as governor of Vir-

ginia. Wiser than .Nicholson, he took care not to ofi'end the council, and was very pt)pular with all classes, but he died only about a year after his arrival. Several important events, however, in the colonial annals are identified with his brief adaninistration : The completion of the capitol building begun by Nicholson; the burning of the college, October. 1705; the founding by Mrs. Mary Whaley of ]\Iattey's Free School near Williamsburg, and the adop- tion by the assembly of a revised code of law'S — the fourth since the first settlement. In this code provision was made for building a gov- ernor's house, for completing the founding of Williamsburg, and for encouraging the French Protestant refugees whose settlement was above the falls of the river at "King William's parish in the county of Henrico." Some years after the sudden demise of Nott. August 23, 1706, a handsome box monument of marble was erected by the general assembly over his remains in Pruton parish churchyard. It is still standing. He was succeeded at the head of the government by the president of the council. Edmund Jennings.

Edmund, Jenings, president of the coun- cil and acting governor from June, 1706, to August. T710. was son of Sir Edmund Jen- ings. of Ripon. ^'orkshire. England, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Edward Park- ham, lord mayor of London. 1621-22. He was born in 1659. and died June 2. 1727. He came to \'irginia at an early, age. and settled in York county. He was ajipointed attorney- general in 1680, and retained the office till after 1692. He was appointed to the council in 1 701, and remained a member till his death. In 1704 he was appointed secretary of state, and from June. 1706. till August 23. 1710, he was acting governor. Later, after the death