Norborne, Baron de Botetourt, Governor-General of Virginia, 1768-1770; Wm. and Mary Qrtly., 5-3 Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Norborne, Baron de Botetourt, Governor-General of Virginia, 1768-1770. Charles Washington Coleman William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 3. (Jan., 1897), pp. 165-171. NORBORNE, BARON DE BOTETOURT, GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, 1768-1770. Norborne Berkeley, only son of John Symes Berkeley, Esq., of Stoke Gifford, county Gloucester, England, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Walter Norborne, of Calne, county Wilts, was born in 1718. Of this branch of the distinguished and ennobled family of Berkeley an extended pedigree appears in the Visitation of Gloucester of 1623. [Harleian Society Publications, Vol. XXI.] He preferred a claim to the ancient barony of Botetourt, by virture of his descent from Catherine, daughter and coheir of John, third Lord Botetourt. After some discussion, the pretension was finally allowed, and he was raised to the peerage of England as Norborne, Baron de Botetourt, in 1764. The title had been revived previously in the person of Sir Charles Berkeley, a favorite of King Charles II., who appears in a most unlovely character in the pages of Pepys' Diary, created Lord Berkeley and Viscount Fitzharding in Ireland, and Lord Botetourt and Early of Falmouth in England; but upon his death, in 1665, without male issue, the English titles became extinct. [Collins' Perrage, IX., pp. 435, 436.] Previous to his elevation to the peerage, Lord Botetourt had been Colonel of the North Gloucestershire Militia, and a member of Parliament, and in 1767 was Constable of the Tower of London. Contemporary notices, not always of the most flattering nature, show him to have been a man of the world and a courtier, Junius stigmatizing him as a "cringing, bowing, fawning, sword-bearing courtier"; and Horace Walpole writing of him, rather slightingly, as "a court favorite, yet ruined in fortune." Be these things as they may, from his arrival in Virginia, in October, 1768, as Governor-General of the colony, he appears in Virginia history as the most beloved of her viceroys, "not only with the grace of polished life, but also with the predilection of the people," as Edmund Randolph wrote. "Always accessible on business . . . affable to the humblest visitor in social circles, easy himself, and contributing to the ease of others, he was sincerely and universally beloved." No Governor-in-chief had resided in the colony for three-quarters of a century, and the discontent and grave political agitation there suggested to the home government expediency of no longer permitting the chief executive to remain in England, sending a deputy to discharge the duties of the office in Virginia. Page 166. Upon this decision, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, then Governor, resigned his commission, and, at the suggestion of Lord Hillsborough, Lord Botetourt was appointed his successor. So, to the Virginians, the interest in his arrival was augmented by the important fact, socially as well as politically, that he came with the full title of "His Majesty's Lieutenant, Governor- General, and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice-Admiral of the Same." The Virginia Gazette of the day, in its notice of his reception in Williamsburg, says: "Immediately on his arrival the city was illuminated, and all ranks vied with each other in testifying their gratitude and joy that a Nobleman of such distinguished merit and abilities is appointed to preside over and live among them." {Howe, in his History and Antiquities of Virginia, gives the full test of this notice, together with an ode said to have been sung upon the occasion.) It is not the purpose of this note to dwell upon the official acts of Lord Botetourt's brief administration of affairs in Virginia. His study was conciliation, to impress the Virginians with the dignity of his office in the manner most flattering to themselves. On the 11th of May, 1769, he went to open the houses of Assembly, attended by a guard of honor, and riding in a coach of state drawn by six white horses, the gift of King George III. Through his munificence, two gold medals were established in the College of William and Mary, to be given annually, one for excellence in philosophical learning, and the other in mathematics. These medals were awarded until the Revolution. [Wm. and Mary Quarterly, III., p. 144. There are various contemporary notices of his social acts, his dinner-companies at the palace with fifty-two guests, the distinction of his manner, the urbanity of his address. In short, with the exception of the memorable dissolution of the Burgesses on the 17th of May, 1769, nothing seems to have marred the harmony and good-will existing between the Governor and the people of Virginia. When he died, The Virginia Gazette spoke for the people in declaring that "Virginia, in his fall, sorely laments the loss of the best of Governors and the best of Men". Rind's Gazette of October 18, 1770, in heavy mourning throughout, contains the following annoucement of his death: "WILLIAMSBURG, October 18 [1770]. "On Monday, the 15th Instant, about One o'Clock in the Morning, departed this Life, universally lamented throughout this Colony, his Excellency the Right Honourable NORBORNE, Baron de Page 167. BOTETOURT, his Majesty's Lieutenant, Governor-General, and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice-Admiral of the same. "Truly and justly to express the many great virtues and amiable Qualities which adorn'd this noble Lord, as well in his public as private Character, would demand the Skill of the ablest Penman. Suffice it then to inform such Parts of the World as were Strangers to his trans- cendent Merits, that Virginia, in his Fall, sorely laments the Loss of the best of Governors, and the best of Men. Let his distant Relations and Friends be told that we have all antici- pated, and shall, to the latest Period, share their Griefs and deep Afflictions; and that we condole with them, with the Warmth of the most tender Affection." In the same paper apepars, in bold type, the following proclamation by the Hon. William Nelson, Esq., upon whom, as President of the Council, the administration of the government devolved: "VIRGINIA, f c. "BY THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM NELSON, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF HIS MAJESTY'S COUNCIL, AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THIS DOMINION: "A PROCLAMATION. "WHEREAS by the Death of his Excellency, the Right Honourable NORBORNE Baron de BOTETOURT, his Majesty's late Lieutenant and Governor-General of this Colony, and by the Resignation of the Honourable JOHN BLAIR, Esq., the Administration of the Government is devolved upon me: Now to the End that the Peace of this his Majesty's said Dominion may be better secured, and all Proceedings at Law continued, and that the ordinary Course of Justice may not be inter- rupted, I have thought it fit, by and with the Advice of his Majesty's Council of this Colony, in his Majesty's Name, to publish and declare that all Magistrates and Officers, both civil and military, do continue and remain in all and singular their Powers, Authorities, and Jurisdictions, until father Order be taken therein; hereby requiring them to proceed in the Execution of their several Duties. And all his Majesty's Subjects within this Colony are to be aiding and assisting to them therein, and to yield all due Obedience to this Proclamation. "GIVEN AT THE COUNCIL-CHAMBER, IN WILLIAMSBURG, this 15th day of October, 1770, in the tenth year of his Majesty's Reign. "GOD SAVE THE KING. WILLIAM NELSON." Page 168. The funeral ceremonies over the dead Governor for elaborate display wre such as had never been seen in Virginia, the cost aggregating L700 sterling. The bills presented at the time are still in existence and were used by Mr. R.A. Brock in the preparation of a sketch of Lord Botetourt in his Virginia and Virginians. [Vol. I., pp. 55-58.] At this time also was made an inventory of the furniture, etc., in the palace and of Lord Botetourt's personal effects. [South. Lit. Mess., XX., p. 341.[ In this connection it may be interesting to quote the following extract from an unpublished letter of President Nelson to Samuel Athawes, Esq., a prominent merchant of London, under date of May 16, 1771. The original is in the possession of the Virginia Theological Seminary: "Your Observations on the Death of our much lamented Govr are agreeable to the sentiments of Every Body here who doubts that we shall hardly get such another. What you say of Myself I cannot answer. Whether Ld Dunmore would be his Equal or not, We are not Likely to know, for, as he writes Me, he likes his Situation at New York so well, that he hath wrote the Minister to desire leave to Remain where he is. With all my Heart, for many Reasons, but especially as We have various accounts of his Deposition. Lord Botetourt's Horses I have sold, as I bought them, except two, wch I keep for my own Use; and by the Duke of Beaufort's orders we have nearly finished the sale of Lord Botetourt's effects - except such things as his Grace hath ordered to be sent to him. The State Coach, the King & Queen's Pictures are Presented to the Council for the succeeding Governour." It has always been believed, in the absence of absolute proof, that Lord Botetourt's remains rest in a vault beneath the chapel of the college of William and Mary, and the truth would seem to be conclusively shown by the following extract from the manuscript Faculty Journal of the College: "April 11th, 1771. "At a Meeting of the President & Masters of William and Mary College. "Present, 'The Revd Mr Horrocks Presidt. "Mr. Camm, Mr. Jones, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Dixon, Mr. Henley & Mr. Gwatking. "This Day was receiv'd from the Honble the President and the other Page 169. Gentlemen appointed to take Care of Lord Botetourt's Effects the following Extract of a Letter from his Grace the Duke of Beaufort, viz. 'I understand that his Lordship express'd a Desire some time before he died to be buried in Virginia; so that I do not intend to remove the Body to England, but hope the President, &c., of the College will permit me to erect a Monument near the Place where he was buried, as the only Means I have of expressing in some Degree the sincere Regard and Affection I bore towards him; and I flatter Myself it may not be dis- agreeable to the Virginians to have this Remembrance of a Person whom they held in so high Estimation, and whose Loss they so greatly lament.' "Which being read, the Application therein contained receiv'd the unanimous Assent of the Society, who are glad of every Opportunity of shewing their sincere Regard to the Memory of Lord Botetourt." Henry, fifth Duke of Beaufort, the author of the letter, was a nephew of Lord Botetourt, in whose title the honors of the barony merged on Lord Botetourt's death without issue. The intended monument was not erected; but a cenotaph, which still remains, was placed in the parish church of Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire, England. The Virginia Assembly voted a statue of his lordship, which, in 1774, was placed before the Capitol in Williamsburg. The seat of government having been moved to Richmond and the Capitol falling into disrepair, the statue was transferred to the ground of the College of William and Mary. Here it remained until the outbreak of the late war, when it was taken for preservation to the grounds of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum. After the war it was restored to its position on the college campus, where it yet stands, though defaced and injured by frequent removals and the fortunes of war. The pedestal bears elaborate inscriptions, which have been often quoted. In 1889 the popular statement that Lord Botetourt was buried beneath the College chapel was curiously confirmed from two different sources. A workman was engaged in knocking down the plaster on the walls of a room of the old Paradise residence in Williamsburg (now owned by Mr. J.C. Slater), when it was discovered that on the original surface of the wall some papers had been pasted and subsequently concealed by successive coats of whitewash. The discovery came too late to save the papers intact. A small fragment of one of these proved to be part of a Page 170. play-bill of the "Virginia Company of Comedians", which, under Lewis Hallam, opened its first engagement in Williamsburg in 1752. Only enough of this remained to show, from the dramatis personae, that the play was Otway's "Venice Preserved". Other fragments were of the "As- socation", or non-importation agreement entered into by the late members of the House of Burgesses on the 27th of May, 1774, printed on a broadside, and the proclamation of the Hon. William Nelson given above, also printed on a broadside. With the latter were two small sheets about four by six inches in size, with a heavy black line an inch within the margin. One of these was recovered entire, and contains the following funeral annoucement or invitation: WILLIAMSBURG, October 16, 1770. THE Gentlemen appointed to conduct the Fune- ral of his Excellency Lord BOTETOURT, prefent their Compliemnts to all Gentlemen and La- dies, and beg the Favour of their Attendance at Palace at Two o'Clock on Friday next. The Procession to begin precisely at Three, and move to the Church, where the usual Service will be performed; after which the Corps will be con- ducted to the College Chapel, and there interred. Shortly after the finding of this funeral announcement, General Fitzhugh Lee, then Governor of Virginia, received a letter, dated June 12, 1889, from the Rev. James H. Taylor, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Rome, N. Y., stating that he had seen among a lot of old silver in a jeweller's window in that city a solid silver coffin-plate ten inches long by five-an-a-half inches wide, shield-shaped, and bearing beneath an engraved coronet the follow- ing inscription: Page 171. NORBORNE BARON DE BOTETOURT OB: XV OCT. A: D: MDCCLXX AET: LIII. Mr. Charles Poindexter, State Librarian, wrote immediately expressing a desire to secure the plate by purchase. June 18, 1889, Mr. E.P. Bevillard, the jeweller then in possession of the relic, wrote, saying, "I think it belongs to the Sate of Virginia. Allow me to have the pleasure of returning it to the Sate of Virginia." From the correspondence, and a notice in the Evening Sentinel of Rome, N.Y., all of which were copied at length in the Richmond, Va., newspapers at the time, it appears that Mr. Bevillard, a Frenchman but recently come into this country, bought the plate as old silver for $2.50 "of Edward Lea, of New London, who got it from Mrs. Brown, of Verona, whose husband was a soldier in the Union army." "It is," wrote the Rev. Mr. Taylor, "as I suspected, a relic of vandalism". The Rome Evening Sentinel adds: "It is remembered that during the war a great many buildings in the South were pillaged by soliders, and the presumption, a natural one, is that it [the coffin-plate] was taken at that time, with other property, from William and Mary College, of Williamsburg, Va., in the chapel of which rested the remains of Baron de Botetourt, who was a colonial governor of Virginia". The College and William and Mary suffered worse than pillage, its main building, in which was the chapel, having been fired by Union soldiers, and the burial vaults beneath the chapel desecrated. Fort his unathorized destruction the institution was reimbursed after thirty years by an act of Congress; and through the courtesy and antiquarian interest of the Rev. James H. Taylor and the graceful action of Mr. E. P. Bevillard, both of Rome, N. Y., the college is once more in possession of the plate removed in 1862 from the coffin of Virginia's "best beloved colonial governor."