Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt

The Right Honourable The Lord Botetourt
Colonial Governor of Virginia
In office 1768–1770
Preceded by	Francis Fauquier
Succeeded by	John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore
Personal details
Born	c. 1717 Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire, England
Died	15 October 1770 Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, Virginia
Spouse(s)	never married

Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt (c. 1717 – 15 October 1770), was a courtier, member of parliament, and royal governor of the colony of Virginia from 1768 until his death in 1770.

Norborne Berkeley was born about 1717. He was of the family of Berkeley of Stoke Gifford in Gloucestershire, descended from Maurice de Berkeley (d. 1347), who had acquired the manor of Stoke Gifford in 1337, the second son of Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (1271–1326). In 1726, Berkeley was admitted to Westminster School.

His political career began in 1741 when he was elected to the House of Commons as a knight of the shire for Gloucestershire, a seat he held until 1763. Considered a staunch Tory, Berkeley's fortunes were boosted considerably on the accession of George III in 1760, when he was appointed a Groom of the Bedchamber and in 1762 (until 1766) Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. In 1764, almost 400 years after the title went into abeyance through lack of direct heirs, he successfully claimed the title of Baron Botetourt as the lineal descendant of Maurice de Berkeley (d. 1361) and his wife Catherine de Botetourt. He thus took a seat in the House of Lords as the 4th Baron de Botetourt, and in 1767 was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber and in 1768 Governor of Virginia.

He died in Williamsburg on 15 October 1770, after an illness lasting several weeks. Botetourt never married and left no direct heirs.

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