Lucy and the Governor (ePub)

An historical fiction based on a true story about Governor Francis Nicholson (1655-1728), a British military officer and colonial governor, who became the governor of five different colonies in America at different times from 1690 to 1725.

While Nicholson overcame ordeals as a young military officer and achieved success as a colonial governor in America, he suffered set-backs and a re-call to England as he rose to prominence. His rise to fame was interrupted at the age of forty four years old in 1698 by his pursuit of the lovely Lucy Burwell who was sweet sixteen and courted by Edmund Berkeley, who succeeded in marrying her in 1702 to the dismay of Governor Nicholson.

After his re-call to England by Queen Anne in 1705 Nicholson was reinstated in 1710 with another position in the colonies, which led to the rank of Captain-General of the colonial army and title of Governor of Governors from 1714-to 1716. Upon the appointment of George I, a Whig, to the throne of England in 1714 due his affiliation with the Tory party, Nicholson was removed as a colonial governor in 1716, but received one final appointment to the governorship of South Carolina in 1721, which lasted until 1725.

While his ferocious temper produced many enemies, Nicholsons patronage of religion and education, which involved donating funds for the repair or construction of at least seventy-one churches, schools, and royal government buildings in eleven colonies made him one of the crowns more effective colonial servants.