George Washington Papers

[Diary entry: 25 April 1760]

Friday Apl. 25th. Waited upon the Govr.

The governor of Virginia was an appointee of the king. Since, in the British imperial practice, the governorship was considered to be a source of revenue as well as an administrative responsibility, the governor often obtained the royal appointment of a lieutenant governor, who would live in Virginia as the colony’s chief executive officer, and with whom the governor would come to some agreement over the income and perquisites of the office. In 1760 the governor of Virginia was Sir Jeffrey Amherst, and the resident lieutenant governor was Francis Fauquier (1703–1768). Fauquier was commissioned lieutenant governor of Virginia 10 Feb. 1758, took the oaths of office in Williamsburg 5 June 1758, and died in office. He had thus been GW’s superior during part of the 1758 campaigns against the French. It was Lieutenant Governor Fauquier whom he visited on this date; he was following the common practice of Virginians in referring to him as simply the governor.

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