Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt

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Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt (1718 – October 15, 1770) was governor of the Virginia Colony from 1768 to 1770. He was a member of Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Before coming to Virginia he was (as Norborne Berkeley) Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire 1741 – 1763. He then obtained his peerage, when it was called out of abeyance in 1764, the third holder of the title having died in 1406.

Lord Botetourt resided in the Governor's Palace on Duke of Gloucester Street, now a major attraction of Colonial Williamsburg in the Historic Triangle. Although a popular governor, Lord Botetourt served only two years. He died suddenly while still in office in 1770 and was buried in the Wren Building Chapel at William and Mary.

[edit] Tale of 2 statues

A statue of him was placed in the Capitol in Williamsburg in 1773. The Capital of Colonial Virginia was located in Williamsburg from 1699 until 1780, but at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, was moved to Richmond for security reasons during the American Revolution.

The statue of Lord Botetourt was acquired by William and Mary and moved to the campus from the former Capitol building in 1797, and after years of weathering, was eventually moved to a location inside the College's Swem Library in the 20th century. In 1993, as the College celebrated its Tercentenary (300th anniversary), a new statue of Lord Botetourt, created in bronze by W&M alumnus, Gordon Kray, was installed in the College Yard, in the place occupied for so many years by the original. [1]

[edit] Named for him

Botetourt County, Virginia was named in his honor. Historians also believe that Berkeley County, Virginia and the town of Berkeley Springs, both now in West Virginia, were also named in his honor, or possibly that of another popular colonial governor, Sir William Berkeley. [2]

Lord Botetourt High School in the unincorporated town of Daleville in Botetourt County, Virginia is also named in his honor.

[edit] Reference

The House of Commons 1754-1790, by Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke (HMSO 1964)

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Thomas Chester Benjamin Bathurst	Member for Gloucestershire with Thomas Chester 1741–1763	Succeeded by Thomas Chester Thomas Tracy
Peerage of England
Preceded by Abeyant (since 1406)	Baron Botetourt 1764–1770	Succeeded by Abeyant (until 1803)