John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace

John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace (* 1672 in Hurley , Berkshire , England , † May 6, 1709 in New York City ) was the English governor of the province of New York and New Jersey for a few months from 1708 to 1709 .

Life

John Lovelace was a son of William Lovelace from Hurst in Berkshire and his wife Mary Nevill, making him a grandson of Francis Lovelace , who was colonial governor of the province of New York between 1668 and 1672. His father died in 1676, after which John inherited his small estates. After the death of her brother Edward Nevill, 1st Baronet, his mother inherited part of his estate in Grove in Nottinghamshire in 1685 , but John grew up in a relatively modest family due to his small inheritance. After the death of his second cousin John Lovelace, 3rd Baron Lovelace in 1693, he inherited his title Baron Lovelace , but his cousin had been deeply in debt at his death. His property Hurley had to be sold to pay off the debt, but Lovelace inherited further debts as the fourth baron, which worsened his own financial situation. On November 11, 1693, he took his seat in the House of Lords , but remained politically inactive. Through the political ties of his family, who traditionally belonged to the Whigs , he was given an officer position in the Life Guards in 1699 . In 1706 he became a colonel of his own infantry regiment. However, his financial situation remained tense.

In 1708 he was appointed new governor of the colonies of New York and New Jersey to succeed the corrupt and unpopular Edward Hyde . After a difficult crossing, he reached North America in late autumn 1708 and took office in December. Although popular as the new governor, he faced strong internal opposition, including Hyde's supporters. He launched anti-corruption measures and was the first governor to allow the colonies' representations to approve specific taxes instead of just granting the governor a fixed amount of tax. However, he died a few months later of complications from a stroke, so that he could not achieve any major successes or face challenges during his tenure. He was buried on May 12, 1709 in the churchyard of Trinity Church in New York.

Family and offspring

Around October 20, 1702 Lovelace Charlotte Clayton († 1749) married, a daughter of Sir John Clayton from Richmond in Surrey . He had four children with her:

• John († 1709)
• Nevill (1708-1736)
• Charles
• Martha († 1788) ∞ Henry Beauclerk (1701–1761)

His heir was his underage son John, who died a few days after his father. Afterwards his son Nevill inherited the title, with his death in 1736 the title Baron Lovelace expired.

literature

• Michael J. Birkner, Donald Linky, Peter Mickulas: The Governors of New Jersey. Biographical essays . Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 2014, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-0-8135-6245-2 , p. 50 ff. ( Excerpt from Google Books )

Web links

• Lovelace at Rootsweb
• Cracroft's Peerage: Lovelace, Baron (E, 1627--1736)
• David Hosford: Lovelace, John, fourth Baron Lovelace (d.1709). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004