Lewis Burwell (1711/1712–1756) was an American colonist and politician who served as a member of the

Virginia Governor's Council The Governor's Council (also known as the "Council of State" or simply "the Council") was the upper house of the colonial legislature (the House of Burgesses was the other house) in the Colony of Virginia from 1607 until the American Revolution i ...

and as acting

Governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

Early life and Education

Burwell was born in either 1711 or 1712 at Fairfield, the plantation of his parents, Elizabeth Carter Burwell and her first husband, Nathaniel Burwell. In accordance with his father's will, Burwell's guardian, Robert "King" Carter I, sent him to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to be educated. From 1722 to 1729 he attended

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

, and upon the age of seventeen he matriculated at

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. Burwell would remain there for four years. He did not receive a degree (which was not considered unusual at the time) but he may have perhaps studied law in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

in February 1733, just a few months before he returned to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

after receiving news of the death of King Carter.

Career

Lieutenant Governor

Sir William Gooch Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet (21 October 1681 – 17 December 1751) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. Technically, Gooch only held the title of Royal Lieutenant Gove ...

noticed that Burwell returned to Virginia with a reticent and pretentious manner that curried disfavor among his fellow colonists. Nevertheless, in 1742 Burwell was elected to the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been establishe ...

from Gloucester County and named to the Committees of Privileges and Elections and of Propositions and Grievances. After serving in the short session that met from May 6 to June 19, he joined the upper echelons of Virginia leadership. On February 10, 1743, King George II appointed Burwell to the Governor's Council. He took his seat on August 4, 1743, and remained a councillor until his death in 1756. Upon the death of Thomas Lee on November 14, 1750, Burwell became the senior member of the council. Because the governor and lieutenant governor were both out of Virginia at the time, he served as president, effectively making him acting

, until the arrival of Lieutenant Governor

Robert Dinwiddie Robert Dinwiddie (1692 – 27 July 1770) was a British colonial administrator who served as lieutenant governor of colonial Virginia from 1751 to 1758, first under Governor Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, and then, from July 1756 ...

on November 21, 1751. Kitfry-1-

Although the General Assembly never convened during Burwell's administration, he continued Gooch's efforts to maintain peace with the Indians in the

Ohio Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, and he selected

Joshua Fry Colonel Joshua Fry (1699–1754) was an English-born American adventurer who became a professor, then real estate investor and local official in the colony of Virginia. Although he served several terms in the House of Burgesses, he may be best kn ...

and

Peter Jefferson Peter Jefferson (February 29, 1708 – August 17, 1757) was a planter, cartographer and politician in colonial Virginia best known for being the father of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. The "Fry-Jefferson Map", creat ...

to draft a new map of Virginia. Regarding the now famous

Fry-Jefferson map Colonel Joshua Fry (1699–1754) was an English-born American adventurer who became a professor, then real estate investor and local official in the colony of Virginia. Although he served several terms in the House of Burgesses, he may be best kn ...

, Burwell remarked of Fry that “considering that we are yet a Country of Woods, it is surprising how he could draw so beautiful a Map of it.”

Personal life

Burwell had inherited a large amount of property from both sides of his family. A successive series of lawsuits to settle inheritance rights to property in England and Virginia eventually made him one of the wealthiest young men in

. Fairfield burned in 1897, a fate shared by many Burwell family properties across the years. Burwell continued to study law for a time after he returned to

but there is no evidence he ever practiced. In October 1736 he married Mary Willis. They had two or three sons as well as three daughters before her death in May 1746. His eldest son, Lewis Burwell, served in the

Fifth Virginia Convention The Fifth Virginia Convention was a meeting of the Patriot legislature of Virginia held in Williamsburg from May 6 to July 5, 1776. This Convention declared Virginia an independent state and produced its first constitution and the Virginia Decl ...

Illness and death

In the spring of 1751 Burwell's poor health led him to visit one of the medicinal springs in western Virginia. On several occasions, the Council met at Fairfield, ostensibly because of his inability to travel to Williamsburg. Burwell never attended the Council again after Dinwiddle took office. The lieutenant governor wanted to replace him with a member who could take part, but was precluded from acting on this due to the Burwells being so well connected among the First Families. Dinwiddie identified the cause of Burwell's malady as “a distemper in the Mind,” which possibly resulted from a cancer or tumor. A nineteenth-century writer asserted that Burwell had injured his head in a fall from his horse during his time in England and that the lingering effects led to his poor health and death. Lewis Burwell died at Fairfield on May 6, 1756, and was likely interred in the family cemetery there. His remains were later relocated along with those of other family members to the graveyard of

Abingdon Church Abingdon Church is a historic Episcopal church located near White Marsh, Gloucester County, Virginia. It and its glebe house are among the oldest buildings in Virginia and were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The pa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burwell. Lewis 1756 deaths 18th-century American landowners 18th-century American farmers Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge American people of English descent American planters Colonial governors of Virginia House of Burgesses members Burwell family of Virginia People educated at Eton College People from Gloucester County, Virginia Virginia colonial people Virginia Governor's Council members American slave owners