Colonial Governor of Virginia. One of the more able men charged with superintending the Virginia Colony, he is best remembered for his influence on a youthful Thomas Jefferson. Educated in the liberal manner common to the nobility of the time, he engaged in both science and business in England, was appointed a director of the South Sea Company and a governor of the Foundling Hospital, and in 1753 elected Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1758, after losing his entire fortune in a single evening's gambling, he was sent to Williamsburg, Virginia, as acting Crown Governor, a position he held until his death. (His actual title was "Lieutenant Governor" as the true, titled "Governor" was a figurehead, an absentee nobleman in England, who held no real power). In Virginia he was considered one of the most capible and popular of appointed leaders as he supported the right of the colonies to tax themselves and refused an order to remove the office of Treasurer from the House of Burgesses. Fauquier befriended the young Thomas Jefferson, the future statesman frequently dining at the Governor's Palace, along with professors George Wythe and William Small, during his student days at The College of William and Mary. In 1765, deciding that Patrick Henry was a 'hothead', Fauquier dissolved the House of Burgesses during the Stamp Act crisis. An accomplished writer, he published several financial essays, though in the matter of gambling he unfortunately failed to heed his own advice. Fauquier County in Northern Virginia is named for him as are a building and a secret society at William and Mary University.
Colonial Governor of Virginia. One of the more able men charged with superintending the Virginia Colony, he is best remembered for his influence on a youthful Thomas Jefferson. Educated in the liberal manner common to the nobility of the time, he engaged in both science and business in England, was appointed a director of the South Sea Company and a governor of the Foundling Hospital, and in 1753 elected Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1758, after losing his entire fortune in a single evening's gambling, he was sent to Williamsburg, Virginia, as acting Crown Governor, a position he held until his death. (His actual title was "Lieutenant Governor" as the true, titled "Governor" was a figurehead, an absentee nobleman in England, who held no real power). In Virginia he was considered one of the most capible and popular of appointed leaders as he supported the right of the colonies to tax themselves and refused an order to remove the office of Treasurer from the House of Burgesses. Fauquier befriended the young Thomas Jefferson, the future statesman frequently dining at the Governor's Palace, along with professors George Wythe and William Small, during his student days at The College of William and Mary. In 1765, deciding that Patrick Henry was a 'hothead', Fauquier dissolved the House of Burgesses during the Stamp Act crisis. An accomplished writer, he published several financial essays, though in the matter of gambling he unfortunately failed to heed his own advice. Fauquier County in Northern Virginia is named for him as are a building and a secret society at William and Mary University.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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