Alexander Spotswood
| Alexander Spotswood | |
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Portrait (1736) by Charles Bridges. Collection of Colonial Williamsburg
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c. 1676 English Tangier, Morocco |
| Died | June 7, 1740 (aged 64) Annapolis, Ann Arundel, Maryland |
| Residence | Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, Colony of Virginia |
| Spouse(s) | Butler Brayne (m. 1725–40) |
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Alexander Spotswood (c. 1676 – 6 June 1740) was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is noted in Virginia and American history for a number of his projects as governor, including his exploring beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishing what was perhaps the first colonial iron works, and his negotiating the Treaty of Albany with the Iroquois Nations of New York.
Alexander Spotswood was born in the Colony of Tangier, Morocco, about 1676 to Catharine (née Maxwell, c. 1638 - December 1709) and her second husband, Dr. Robert Spottiswoode (17 September 1637 - 1680), the Chirurgeon (Surgeon) to the Tangier Garrison.
Through his father, Alexander was a grandson of Judge Robert Spottiswoode (1596–1646), a great-grandson of Archbishop John Spottiswoode (1565–1639), and a descendant of King Robert II of Scotland through the 2nd Earls of Crawford. Alexander's older half-brother (by his mother's first marriage to George Elliott) was Roger Elliott (c. 1655 - 15 May 1714), who became one of the first Governors of Gibraltar. Following the death of Robert Spotswood, his mother married thirdly, Reverend Dr. George Mercer, the Garrison's Schoolmaster.
On 20 May 1693, Alexander became an Ensign in the Earl of Bath's Regiment of Foot. He was commissioned in 1698, and promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1703. He was appointed Quartermaster-General of the Duke of Marlborough's army the same year, and was wounded at the Battle of Blenheim the following year.
In 1710, Alexander was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, under the nominal governorship of George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney. He was the first to occupy the new Governor's Mansion, which many citizens thought overly extravagant (its 20th-century reconstruction is now one of the principal landmarks in Colonial Williamsburg). in 1711, he intervened in Cary's Rebellion in North Carolina, sending a contingent of Royal Marines from the Chesapeake to put down the rebellion. A Tobacco Act requiring the inspection of all tobacco intended for export or for use as legal tender was passed in 1713. The next year, he founded the First Germanna Colony, and regulated trade with Native Americans at another of his pet projects, Fort Christanna. In 1715, he bought 3229 acres (13 km²) at Germanna.
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