Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper (21 March 1635– 27 January 1689) was an English colonial administrator who served as the governor of the Isle of Wight from 1661 to 1667 and as the

governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The Governor (United States), governor is head of the Government_of_Virginia#Executive_branch, executive branch ...

from 1677 to 1683.

Life

Born in 1635, Thomas was the son of Judith and John Colepeper. As a

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

, his father left England following the execution of CharlesI at the end of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. Thomas lived with his father in the Netherlands where he married the Dutch heiress Margaret van Hesse on 3 August 1659. He returned to England after CharlesII's restoration, where his wife was

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

as English by Act of Parliament. Colepeper was made

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

from 1661 to 1667, which involved little administration but added to his wealth. He was elected as a bailiff to the board of the Bedford Level Corporation for 1665 and 1667. He became the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in July 1677 but did not leave England until 1679, when he was ordered to do so by CharlesII. While in Virginia, he seemed more interested in maintaining his land in the

Northern Neck The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas (traditionally called "necks" in Virginia) on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia (along with the Middle Peninsula and the Virginia Peninsula). The P ...

than governing, so he soon returned to England. Rioting in the colony forced him to return in 1682, by which time the riots were already quelled. After apparently appropriating £9,500 from the treasury of the colony, he again returned to England. Charles II was forced to dismiss him, appointing in his stead Francis Howard, Baron of Effingham. During this tumultuous time, Colepeper's erratic behaviour meant that he had to rely increasingly on his cousin and Virginia agent, Col.Nicholas Spencer. (Spencer had succeeded Colepeper as acting governor upon the lord's departures from the colony.) Colepeper lived the rest of his life in London with his mistress Susannah Willis and their two daughters. He left a will in favour of Willis and her daughters that was suppressed. Catherine Colepeper, his only child with his wife Margaret van Hesse, instead inherited much of his wealth and married

Thomas Fairfax Sir Thomas Fairfax (17 January 1612 – 12 November 1671) was an English army officer and politician who commanded the New Model Army from 1645 to 1650 during the English Civil War. Because of his dark hair, he was known as "Black Tom" to his l ...

, lord of Cameron, in 1690. His daughter Roberta Anne Colepeper married the bigamist

Thomas Porter (dramatist) Thomas Porter (1636 – 1680) was an English dramatist and duellist. Life He was the fourth son of Endymion Porter and his wife Olivia Boteler, and brother of George Porter (Royalist), George Porter. Porter abducted, on 24 February 1655, Anne Bl ...

In Virginia, Culpeper County and its county seat Culpeper are named after him. Darwin Island, the most northerly of the Galapagos Islands in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, was named Lord Culpepper's Island in his honour by the pirate William Ambrosia Cowley in 1684 and the name Culpepper Island was maintained for centuries thereafter.

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' * . * . * .

External links

Thomas Colepeper
at Encyclopedia Virginia , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Colepeper, Thomas 1635 births 1689 deaths Colonial governors of Virginia 2

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...