John Archdale (5 March 1642 – 4 July 1717) served as British colonial

Governor of North Carolina The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The governor directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander in chief of the military forces of the state. The current governor, ...

and

Governor of South Carolina The governor of South Carolina is the head of government of South Carolina. The governor is the ''ex officio'' commander-in-chief of the National Guard when not called into federal service. The governor's responsibilities include making yea ...

in 1695 and 1696. He may have also been appointed to serve circa 1683-1686. Archdale was appointed to the position by the Lords Proprietors of Carolina.

Biography

He first travelled from England to North America in 1664 as an agent of his brother-in-law, Sir

Ferdinando Gorges Sir Ferdinando Gorges ( – 24 May 1647) was a naval and military commander and governor of the important port of Plymouth in England. He was involved in Essex's Rebellion against the Queen, but escaped punishment by testifying against the mai ...

. In 1683 John Archdale went to North Carolina as collector of quitrents. After the Lords Proprietors commissioned him governor of Carolina in August 1694, Archdale appointed Thomas Harvey to act as deputy governor for North Carolina, and set out for Charles Towne. John Archdale replaced Joseph Blake as governor in August 1695; when he sailed for England in October 1696, he named Blake his deputy governor. Governor Archdale never returned to Carolina. He died in England 1717. According to Appleton's Cyclopedia, Governor Archdale "was sagacious, prudent, and moderate, and under his administration the province made great progress in internal improvements. He introduced rice culture into Carolina by distributing among some friends a bag of seed rice brought by the captain of a vessel from

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

." The city of

Archdale, North Carolina Archdale is a city in Guilford and Randolph counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located 15 miles southwest of Greensboro, it is part of the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area of the Piedmont Triad metro region. The ...

, which began as a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

settlement, was named for him because Archdale was himself a Quaker. There was also an Archdale Precinct in colonial

Bath County, North Carolina Bath County is an extinct county formerly located in the British American colony of North Carolina. The county was established in 1696 and was abolished in 1739. The original three precincts of Bath County—Pamplicough, Wyckham and Archdale� ...

, from 1705 until 1712.Combs &c. Families of Craven County, North Carolina
/ref> Archdale was elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

from the constituency of Wycombe in 1698, but he would not take his seat due to his refusal to take the required oath. Archdale published ''A New Description of the Fertile and Pleasant

Province of Carolina Province of Carolina was a province of England (1663–1707) and Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It is part of present-day Alabam ...

, with a Brief Account of its Discovery, Settling, and Government, up to this Time, with several Remarkable Passages during My Time'' (London, 1707). See Hewatt's ''Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia'' (London, 1779); Holmes's ''Annals of America'' (Cambridge, 1829); and Bancroft's ''History of the United States'' (New York, 1884).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archdale, John 1642 births 1717 deaths People from Buckinghamshire Colonial governors of South Carolina English MPs 1698–1700