Colonial governor of Virginia; born in 1732; made a peer in 1756, and governor of New York in 1770, and of Virginia in 1771. In 1772 he went to Williamsburg, VA, where the promulgation of his stern measures caused much dissatisfaction. In 1776, supported by a number of newly acquired loyalists, he raided the settlers on York and James rivers, destroying their property and kidnaping their slaves. On December 9th his band was defeated in a skirmish at Great Bridge, in revenge for which he set fire to Norfolk. In June of the following year his party occupied Gwynn Island, in Chesapeake River, where he was wounded and his band dislodged. His vessels thereafter made depredations on the coast and river banks of Virginia, but with only small results. The minor craft were eventually burnt, and the large ones sent to the West Indies. He returned to England, and in 1786 was appointed governor of the Bermuda Islands. He died in Ramsgate, England, in May 1809.
