| Authorised form of name | Colleton; Peter (1635 - 1694); politician and colonial administrator |
| Other forms of surname | Collington |
| Dates | 1635 - 1694 |
| Nationality | British |
| Date of birth | c. September 1635 |
| Place of death | Golden Square, City of Westminster, London, England, Europe |
| Date of death | 24 March 1694 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Baptism:
St Mary Olave's, Exeter, Devon, England, Europe (17 September 1635)
Burial:
St James's, Piccadilly, City of Westminster, London, England, Europe |
| Occupation | Politician; colonial administrator; plantation and slave owner |
| Activity | Career:
Manager of the family plantation in Barbados; Member of Council, Barbados (1664-1684); Member, Royal Adventurers into Africa (1667-1672), Deputy Governor and President of Council, Barbados (1672-1677); Assistant to the Governor of North Carolina, William Drummond and Secretary of Albermarle County (1664-1670); reached Albemarle County on February 23 1665 and was living in North Carolina when his father died in England in 1666; Governor, Albemarle County (1670-1672); returned to England to report on the problems in the colony and did not return to North Carolina (1672); inherited share of North Carolina and title Lord Proprietor of the Carolinas (1666-death); Lord Proprietor of the Bahamas (1670-death); Governor of Barbados (1673-1674); Assistant (1672-death); Member, Hudson's Bay Company (1670-death); returned to England (1677); Commissioner for Assessment for Westminster (1677-1680, 1689-1690), and for Devon (1690); MP for Bossiney (1681, 1689-death); Commissioner for Public Accounts; Deputy-Lieutenant of Westminster (1689-death) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 13/12/1677 |
| Age at election | 42 |
| Proposer | Sir Peter Wyche |
| Relationships | Parents: Sir John Colleton and katherin Amy; succeeded his father as 2nd Bart (1666)
Married: Elizabeth Johnston (née Leslie) |
| OtherInfo | As a politician, he was not particularly active but was named one of the Members of the Convention to prepare a bill to provide 'relief' of imposed duties to the plantations in 1685. He was never admitted to the Royal Society after his election and was not active in its work.
Colleton was a shareholder in The Royal Adventurers into Africa, later Royal African Company (RAC) and held a position in the Company as an assistant. The RAC was a British trading company established by Royal Charter in 1660 which enslaved and sold African people. The company was chartered by Charles II, the founding royal Patron of the Royal Society, which was also chartered in 1660. The RAC was made up of and funded by members of the Stuart royal family and London merchants many of whom were, or went on to become, Fellows of the Royal Society. The Royal Society itself held shares in the company from 1682 until 1699. Colleton inherited around £1,800 stock in the RAC. The RAC held a monopoly on English trade on the west coast of Africa.
Colleton was also a member of the Hudson's Bay Company. Charles II granted the charter establishing the Hudson's Bay Company, officially "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay," on May 2, 1670. The charter aimed to establish a trade monopoly on the Eastern coast of what is now Canada and claimed 1.5 million square kilometres of land inhabited by Inuit and First Nations communities (everything in the Hudson river network of waterways), this grew to eight million square kilometres which was dubbed Rupert's Land. The 'adventurers' and traders employed by the HBC did the work of colonizing and nation-building, such as mapping British Columbia's interior and charting the Arctic coast, almost always with the help of Indigenous guides. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; Hunter; GEC Baronetage; Henning; Carolana.com; History of Parliament Online
References:
Govier, M. 1999. 'The Royal Society, Slavery and the Island of Jamaica: 1660-1700', in Notes and Records, vol. 53, pp. 203-217 |
| Code | NA4516 |