Sir Richard Everard, 4th Baronet

Sir Richard Everard, 4th Baronet (c. 1683-17 February 1733) was the last Governor of North Carolina under proprietary rule, serving in that capacity from 1725 to 1731.

Governor of North Carolina

The previous governor, George Burrington, had been removed from office in 1725 by the Lords Proprietors, following many complaints by colonists about his behavior (Burrington was known principally for physically threatening other North Carolina officials).

Everard petitioned for the position, was granted it, and sailed for America. He was sworn in on 17 July 1725 as "governor, captain general, admiral, and commander-in-chief of the colony." In November of that year, Everard terminated (prorogued) the session of the Assembly of the Province, but refused to explain his reasons. The assembly then declared their prorogation was illegal and an infringement upon liberty, notifying the Lords Proprietors. They deplored the loss of ex-governor Burrington and expressed concern at the prospect "of so vile an administration". Everard then involved himself in disputes over the character of Rev. Thomas Bailey, who had defended Burrington.^[1]

Burrington, who had remained in the colony, nearly came to blows with Everard on 15 November 1725, asking Everard's servants, "Are all you country men such fools as Sir Richard Everard? He is a noodle, an ape...not more fit to be a governor than a hog in the woods." ^[2]

Burrington again sought out Everard at his home on 2 December 1725, but was refused admittance. "Come out," demanded Burrington, "I want satisfaction of you for saying you would send me to England in irons. Therefore come out and give it me, you Everard, you a Knight, you a Baronet, you a Governor. You are a Sancho Panza, and I'll take care of you, numbskull head." (This episode led to procedures at law in which several depositions were taken.) ^[2] The Assembly, meeting again in April, 1726, issued a catalogue of grievances, and was promptly prorogued once more by Everard.^[1]

Everard also had belligerent episodes with Edmund Porter, Dr. George Allen, and John Lovick. Everard's enemies in England maintained that he was "too much given to intoxication", though the Provincial Council, asked to voice its opinion on the matter, stated that Everard had never been publicly drunk.^[1]

Everard's sole accomplishment in office was the settlement of North Carolina's border with Virginia, which had long been disputed.

Everard's rule was even more unpopular than Burrington's had been, and his "pack of rude children who gave offence daily" were a particular sore spot. The Provincial Council complained that Everard had set up a sort of Inquisition in which the servants of the gentry were questioned under oath about whether their masters had made private disrespectful remarks about the Governor.^[1]

The Lords Proprietors sold the province to the Crown in 1729, and the Crown appointed Burrington as governor. Everard stayed in office for two more years, until Burrington had qualified. He then retired to London in 1731. Everard died two years later and was buried at Much Waltham, Essex.

Personal life

Everard had married Susannah Kidder in December 1705.^[3] She had four children with Everard. Two sons, Richard and Hugh, succeeded serially to the Baronetcy following his death, but both died without male heirs, and the baronetcy then became extinct. Everard's daughter Anne married George Lathbury, about whom nothing more is known. His daughter Susannah married David Meade, of Nansemond Co., Virginia, and they became the parents of (among others) Lt.-Col. Richard Kidder Meade, who was aide-de-camp to General George Washington in the American Revolution and who superintended the execution of Major John André.^[1]

References

1. 1 2 3 4 5 Haywood, Marshall De Lancey (October 1898). "Sir Richard Everard" (PDF). Publications of the Southern History Association. II (4): 328–339. Retrieved 2008-02-16. 
2. 1 2 Demos, John (1991). Remarkable Providences: Readings on Early American History. Northeastern. p. 284. ISBN 978-1-55553-098-3. 
3. ↑ She was a daughter and co-heiress of the Right Rev. Richard Kidder, Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells