February 10, 1758

Fauquier Named Virginia's Lieutenant Governor

The Privy Council appoints 55-year-old Francis Fauquier of London to the post of Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, serving as deputy to two full Governors: John Campbell, the Earl of Loudoun, and Jeffrey Amherst, who succeeded Loudon in 1759. Neither Loudon nor Amherst, who also served as commanders-in-chief of the British forces in North America when they were Governor, would ever visit Virginia. Fauquier, whom Thomas Jefferson considered "the ablest man" to fill the role, remains in the job until his death in 1768, a period that includes the Stamp and Townshend acts and the beginning of Virginia's opposition to Parliament's authority.