Francis Lovelace (c. 1621–1675) was an
English Royalist and the second
Governor of New York colony.
Early life
Lovelace was born circa 1621. He was the third son of Sir William Lovelace (1584–1627) and his wife Anne Barne of Lovelace Place,
Bethersden and
Woolwich,
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. He was the younger brother of
Richard Lovelace, the Cavalier poet. The Bethersden Lovelace lineage was founded in 1367 by John Lovelace, six generations before Francis, and has been confused over the years with the Hurley Lovelaces who were raised to the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
.
Career
The five Lovelace brothers supported
Charles I in the
English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
. Francis was a Colonel in the Royalist army and was governor of
Carmarthen Castle in
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
from June 1644 until it was surrendered to
Parliamentary
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
troops in October 1645 after a fierce battle in which his brother, William, was killed. He and another brother, Dudley, migrated to Europe and served with the French army later in the 1640s. The brothers later supported
Charles II, and spent time in exile like him, in his fight to be restored to the throne.
Lovelace lived in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
where his sister, Anne Gorsuch, had migrated after marriage, from 1650 until after the colony was seized by the English Parliamentary commissioners in 1652 when the governor,
Sir William Berkeley, dispatched him to France to inform Charles II. Though he is referred to in the administration entry as a bachelor,
he is known to have married one Blanche Talbot secretly
at the age of 38 and was "later forced or persuaded to leave his wife".
He returned to England in 1658, the year of
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
's death. In 1659, he was arrested and confined in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
until after the fall of the Parliamentary government and the restoration of Charles II in 1660.
Charles gave his brother, the Duke of York (later to become King
James II), rights to the colony of
Nieuw Amsterdam when
Richard Nicolls took it from the Dutch in 1667. Many English colonists did not like Nicolls because they thought Oliver Cromwell had been their savior.
Governor of New York
The Duke of York appointed Lovelace the second governor of the
New York Colony in 1668 after the departure of
Richard Nicolls.
While in office he purchased
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
from the local
Native Americans, among whom he sent
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
missionaries, granted 'freedom of conscience' to the English, Dutch and Swedish populations of the colony, organised
infantry
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...
and
militia
A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...
companies and expanded
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's defences.
During his time in NY, he ran and operated the King's House tavern (also known as Lovelace Tavern) in lower Manhattan. The tavern was built in 1670 in the
Stadt Huys Block and rediscovered by archeologists in 1979–1980.
Despite his defensive preparations, his administration was terminated by the temporary
recapture of the colony by the Dutch in 1673 when, for a brief period the Dutch Admiral
Cornelis Evertsen the youngest seized New York City, to little opposition, and re-established
Nieuw Amsterdam.
At the time of the invasion, Lovelace was out of the colony, meeting with the Governor of Connecticut,
John Winthrop Jr. in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
, in the course of planning the first postal system from New York to
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. From 1673 to 1674, Dutch
marine Captain
Anthony Colve acted as military governor-general until England recovered the colony under the terms of the
Treaty of Westminster in 1674.
Return to England
Lovelace, whose property in New York had been confiscated by the Dutch, was sent home in disgrace to England.
The Duke of York, blaming Lovelace for the loss of his namesake colony, confiscated his plantation on
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
and his English estates for a £7,000 debt. In January 1675 he was committed to the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
, where he was interrogated by commissioners. His answers were deemed unacceptable, but no further proceedings were brought against him. He contracted
dropsy and, because of his health, was released in April. He went to live at
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
Woodstock is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish, north-west of Oxford in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. The United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census recorded a parish population of 3,521, up from t ...
and died, in
penury, by 22 December 1675 when
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.
** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...
of his estate was granted to his brother Dudley.
The third new Governor of New York after Francis Lovelace was
John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace of
Hurley – no kin to Francis of the Bethersden Lovelaces. Early genealogists confused Francis with an identically named son of
Richard Lovelace, 1st Baron Lovelace of Hurley, due to a pamphlet issued at the time of his appointment mistakenly asserting that he was the brother of the said Richard. The confusion has also spread to more modern historians.
References
Sources
*
*Paltsis, Victor Hugo (ed.) (1910). Minutes of the Executive Council of the Province of New York: Administration of Francis Lovelace 1668–1673. State of New York, Albany. (including collateral Documents and Illustrations)
The British Governors of Colonial New York
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovelace, Francis
1620s births
1675 deaths
People from Kent
People from Livingston, Staten Island
Governors of the Province of New York
Deaths from edema