Robert Hunter (governor)

Robert Hunter
Portrait of Robert Hunter (portrait attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
In office 1707 – Captured at sea by the French; never served
Preceded by	Edmund Jenings, President of Council
Succeeded by	Alexander Spotswood
3rd colonial governor of New Jersey
In office June 1710 – 1719
Preceded by	Richard Ingoldesby (Lt. Governor)
Succeeded by	Lewis Morris, President of Council
19th colonial governor of New York
In office June 1710 – 1719
Preceded by	Richard Ingoldesby (Lt. Governor)
Succeeded by	Pieter Schuyler, Acting Governor
Governor of Jamaica
In office 1728 – March 1734
Preceded by	John Ayscough, President of Council
Succeeded by	John Ayscough, President of Council
Personal details
Born	1664 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	1734 Jamaica
Nationality	Scottish
Occupation	Military officer, Governor, Playwright
Religion	Church of England

Robert Hunter (1664–1734) was a British military officer, colonial governor of New York and New Jersey from 1710 to 1720, and governor of Jamaica.

Biography

A Scot, the son of James Hunter and his wife Margaret Spalding, Hunter had been apprenticed to an apothecary before running away to join the British Army. He became an officer and married a woman of high rank. He was a man of business whose first address to the Assembly was barely 300 words long. In it, he told that "If honesty is the best policy, plainness must be the best oratory".

He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1707, but captured by a corsair on his way to Virginia, taken to France, and exchanged for the French Bishop of Quebec. He was then appointed Governor of New York and sailed to America with 3,000 Palatinate refugees as settlers in 1710. He was succeeded as Governor by Pieter Schuyler as acting governor from 1719 to 1720 and finally by William Burnet, whose post as Comptroller of Customs was given to Hunter in exchange. Hunter was then Governor of Jamaica from 1727 until his death (in Jamaica).

His play, Androboros, written in 1714, was the first known play to be written and published in the North American British Colonies.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May,1709.

See also

• List of colonial governors of New Jersey
• List of colonial governors of New York
• Androboros

External links

• Biography of Robert Hunter,New Jersey State Library
• Colonial Governors of New York
• Robert Hunter Papers,1699-1744 New-York Historical Society

Government offices
Preceded by Edmund Jenings	Governor of the Province of Virginia 1707–1709	Succeeded by 1st Earl of Orkney
Preceded by Richard Ingoldesby	Governor of the Province of New Jersey 1710–1720	Succeeded by William Burnet
Preceded by Gerardus Beekman (acting)	Governor of the Province of New York 1710–1719	Succeeded by Pieter Schuyler (acting)
Preceded by John Ayscough (acting)	Governor of Jamaica 1728–1734	Succeeded by John Ayscough (acting)