Authorised form of name | Nicholson; Francis (1655 - 1728) |
Dates | 1655 - 1728 |
Place of birth | Downholme Park, near Richmond, Yorkshire |
Date of birth | 12 November 1655 |
Place of death | London |
Date of death | 05 March 1728 |
DatesAndPlaces | Burial: Parish of St George, Hanover Square, Westminster |
Occupation | Soldier |
Activity | Career: Page to the Marchioness of Winchester; Commission in army as Ensign (09 January 1678), Lieutenant (06 May 1684), Captain of a company of Foot for New England (1686); Lieutenant- Governor of New York (1686-1689) when, after an uprising, he took ship for England; Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, where he founded a number of schools and the College of William and Mary (1690-1694); Governor of Maryland (1694-1698); Governor of Virginia (1698-1705); fought against the French in Canada and Acadia [Nova Scotia]; Governor of Acadia (1712-1715); Brigadier-General (1720); Governor of South Carolina (1720-death); retired to England (1725) but kept his position; left the bulk of his property to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospal; his executors were Abel Ketelby (FRS 1720) and Kingsmill Eyre (FRS 1726) Honours: Possibly Kt 1720, although this is not corroborated by Dalton or Shaw
|
Membership category | Fellow |
Date of election | 04/12/1706 |
RSActivity | Royal Society roles: Council (1719, 1725, 1727) |
Relationships | Probably the natural son of Charles Powlett, Marquess of Winchester and later 1st Duke of Bolton |
Source | Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Dalton George I, v2, pp53-62 References: P Fontes da Costa, 'The Culture of Curiosity at The Royal Society in the first half of the eighteenth century', NR 2002 vo l56 pp 147-166 |
Code | NA3711 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNo | Title | Date |
EL/N1/89 | Letter, from F[rancis] Nicholson to Alban Thomas, dated at Plymouth | 5 March 1720 |
MS/390/121 | Bond of Francis Nicholson to the Treasurer of the Royal Society | 12 February 1706 |
EL/N1/90 | Letter, from F[rancis] Nicholson [to the Royal Society], dated at Charles Town, South Carolina | 6 November 1721 |