Sir Nicholas Lawes (1652 – 18 June 1731) (sometimes "'Laws'" in contemporary documents) was

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

from 1718 to 1722.

Early life

Nicholas Lawes was born in 1652 to Nicholas and Amy Lawes.

Knighthood

He was a British knight.

Governor of Jamaica

He was Chief Justice of Jamaica from 1698 to 1703 and Governor from 1718 to 1722. In his capacity as Governor during the

Golden Age of Piracy The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, the Indian Ocean, North America, and West Africa ...

he hunted down or tried many pirates, among them "

Calico Jack John Rackham (26 December 168218 November 1720), commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, whi ...

" Rackham,

Anne Bonny Anne Bonny (8 March 1697 – disappeared April 1721), sometimes Anne Bonney, was an Irish pirate operating in the Caribbean, and one of the few female pirates in recorded history. What little that is known of her life comes largely from Capta ...

Mary Read Mary Read (1685 – 28 April 1721), also known as Mark Read, was an English pirate. She and Anne Bonny were two famous female pirates from the 18th century, and among the few women known to have been convicted of piracy at the height of the " ...

, Robert Deal, Captain Thompson, Nicholas Brown, and

Charles Vane Charles Vane (c. 1680 – 29 March 1721) was an English pirate who operated in the Bahamas during the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Vane was likely born in the Kingdom of England around 1680. One of his first pirate ventures was under the ...

. He signed an arrangement with Jeremy, king of the

Miskito Miskito may refer to: * Miskito people, ethnic group in Honduras and Nicaragua ** Miskito Sambu, branch of Miskito people with African admixture ** Tawira Miskito, branch of Miskito people of largely indigenous origin * Miskito language, original ...

, to bring some of his followers over to Jamaica to hunt down runaway slaves and

Jamaican Maroons Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery on the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes. Africans who were ensl ...

in 1720.

Family

Lawes married five widows in succession. No children survived from the first three marriages. James and Temple Lawes were the sons of his fourth wife Susannah Temple whom he married in 1698. She had previously been married to Samuel Bernard. Her father, Thomas Temple, is said to have given Lawes his Temple Hall, Jamaica estate as a dowry. Lawes later married Elizabeth Lawley (1690-1725), widow of Thomas Cotton, and daughter of Sir Thomas Lawley, 3rd Baronet and his first wife Rebecca Winch, daughter of Sir Humphrey Winch, 1st Baronet. Their youngest surviving daughter, Judith Maria Lawes, married

Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton (1713 – 14 January 1787), was an Anglo-Irish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1754 to 1780. Biography He was the second son of Henry Luttrell, of Luttrellstown (whose family had held Luttr ...

and so became both wife and mother of the Earls of Carhampton and mother of Anne, Duchess of Cumberland and Strathearn.

Coffee and printing

At Temple Hall Lawes experimented with a variety of crops and introduced the very lucrative

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

growing into the island in 1721 according to some sources or 1728 according to others. He is also credited with setting up the first

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

in Jamaica.

Death

He died on 18 June 1731 in Jamaica.

References

1652 births 1731 deaths Chief justices of Jamaica Governors of Jamaica Colony of Jamaica judges People involved in anti-piracy efforts 18th-century Jamaican judges {{Jamaica-politician-stub