University of Virginia Library

SIR FRANCIS NICHOLSON.

Colonel Francis Nicholson was by profession a soldier. Lieutenant-Governor
of the Colony of New York under Sir Edmund Andros, he
was at the head of the administration there in 1687-1689, but was driven
thence by a popular outbreak. He came from England to Virginia as
its Lieutenant-Governor in 1690, and relieved President Nathaniel
Bacon, October 16. Courting popularity, he instituted athletic games,
and offered prizes to those who should excel in riding, running, shooting,
wrestling and fencing. He also proposed the establishment of a
post-office, and recommended the erection of a college, heading, with
the Council, a private subscription by which £2500 were raised, and
the result was the charter in February, 1692, of the ancient seat of
learning, William and Mary College.

Nicholson was relieved October 15, 1693, by Sir Edmond Andros,
Governor-in-Chief. Nicholson was now appointed Governor of Maryland,
serving as such until December 9, 1698, when he relieved
Sir Edmond Andros as Governor of Virginia, under a commission,
dated July 20th preceding. Nicholson entertained a plan to form the
several colonies into a Confederacy, of which he aspired to be made
viceroy. Disappointed in his aims, he displayed ultimately such freaks
of caprice, and such audacity in misrule, as to call in question his
sanity. Becoming passionately attached to a daughter of Lewis Burwell,
Jr., and failing to win her favor, or that of her parents, he exhibited
furious manifestations, and persisted Quixotically for years in his

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MACE

Of the Borough of Norfolk,
Presented by Gov. Dinwiddie,
1754.

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He became involved, also, in contentions with the clergy. For
a more healthy location, Governor Nicholson removed the seat of Government
from Jamestown to Middle Plantations (subsequently named
Williamsburg) in 1698. Upon the complaint of the clergy and Council,
Governor Nicholson was recalled to England in August, 1705, and
on the 15th of that month, succeeded by Edward Nott as Lieutenant-Governor.
In 1710 Nicholas was appointed General and Commander-in-chief
of the forces sent against Port Royal, in Acadia, which was surrendered
to him October 2. He returned to England to urge another
attempt upon Canada, taking with him five Iroquois Indians, who were
presented to Queen Anne. He commanded the unsuccessful expedition
against Canada in 1711. From October 12, 1712, to August,
1717, he was Governor of Nova Scotia. He was knighted in 1720,
and served as Governor of South Carolina from 1721 to June, 1725,
when, returning to England, he was made a Lieutenant-General. Bancroft
describes him as "an adept in colonial governments; trained by
long experience in New York, Virginia, and Maryland; brave and not
penurious, but narrow and irascible; of loose morality, yet a fervent
supporter of the church." He was the author of "An Apology or Vindication
of Francis Nicholson, Governor of South Carolina," London,
folio, 1724, and of "Journal of an Expedition for the Reduction of
Port Royal," London, 4to, 1711. He died in London, March 5, 1728.