Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 1.djvu/88

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

1749 was made Knight of the Garter. The year after he was made groom of the stole and a privy coimcillor, and in 1752 was one of the lords justices during the king's absence in Hanover. In 1754 he was sent back to Paris to demand the liberation of some I British sub- jects detained by the French in America, and died in Paris suddenly December 22, 1754. His remains were brought over and buried in the chapel in South Audley street, London. Albemarle married, in 1723, Lady Anne Len- nox, daughter of Charles, fir;,t duke of Rich- mond, and by her had eight sons and seven daughters.

Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. Albe- marle parish in Susse.x county, \^irginia, and Albemarle county in the same state, were named in his honor.

Blair, James, D. D,, president of the coun- cil, and acting governor during the absence of Governor Gooch on the expedition against Carthagena (June, 1740 — July, 1741) and first president of William and Mary College (1693 — 1743). wa.s- born in Scotland in 1655. He attended the University of Edinburgh and became Master of Arts in 1673. After his graduation he was ordained as a minister of the Church of England, and having served as such for some time in his native country removed to London, where he was clerk in the office of the m, ->ter of rolls, Dr. Compton. Bishop of London, being much impressed with his talents and piety, suggested to him to go as missionary to Virginia. This he did in 1685. It happened that in Virginia he was given the parish of Varina, in Henrico county, where the attempt to establish a college was made in 1618. Having been made commissary of the Bishop of London in 1689. and inspired by his surrounfHngs at Varina. he persuaded

the clergy at their meeting at Jamestown in 1690 to revive the project of the college. They did so, and their recommendations received the approval of both the council and the general assembly; and in June, 1691, Dr. Blair was sent to England by the legislature with full instructions to obtain a charter from the king and queen. lie remained there more than a year, and at length returned in 1693 ^^'i^^'' ^^^^ much coveted document. It contemplated six professors, 100 students more or less, and three grades of instruction — the grammar school, the philosophy school, and the divinity school. The college was erected at Williamsburg according to a design of Sir Christopher W>en. Till 1 71 2 only the grammar school was in oper- ation, but in that year the first professor of mathematics was elected. In 1729 all the schools had been established, and in that year a transfer of the management took place from the trustees to the faculty, the former retain- ing visitorial powers only. In 1694 Dr. Blair removed from Henrico to Jamestown and accepted the parish there so as to be nearer his intended college, and in 1710 he accepted the rectorship at Bruton parish at Williams- burg. He became a member of the council in 1689 and continued a member till his death in 1643. He assisted Henry Hartwell and Edward Chilton in compiling in 1697 "The State of his Majesty's Colony in Virginia," and 117 sermons and discourses, expository of the sermon on the mount, were published in four volumes Svo. at London in 1742. Dr. Blair was an active factor in the politics of the country. When Governor Andros assumed superior authority in ecclesiastical matters. Dr. Blair opposed him. and so successfully that Andros was recalled. He was largely instrumental in the downfall of Nicholson and Spotswood. The two succeeding governors