Samuel Vetch
| Samuel Vetch | |
|---|---|
Engraving of a portrait of Vetch by an unknown artist
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| Royal Governor of Nova Scotia | |
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In office 1715–1717 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas Caulfeild |
| Succeeded by | Richard Philipps |
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In office 1715–1715 |
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| Preceded by | Francis Nicholson |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Caulfeild |
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In office 1710–1712 |
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| Preceded by | Created |
| Succeeded by | Francis Nicholson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 9, 1668 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | April 30, 1732 (aged 63) King's Bench Prison, Southwark, London, England |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Livingston (m. 1700) |
| Parents | William Veitch |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles/wars |
Nine Years' War: • Battle of Steinkirk |
Samuel Vetch (9 December 1668, Edinburgh, Scotland – 30 April 1732) was a Scottish soldier and colonial governor of Nova Scotia. He was a leading figure in the Darien scheme, a failed Scottish attempt to colonise the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s. During the War of the Spanish Succession he was an early proponent of the idea that Great Britain should take New France, proposing in 1708 that it be conquered and that the residents of Acadia be deported. (The latter idea would acted on during the Seven Years' War of the 1750s.)
Samuel Vetch was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 9 December 1668, and was baptised in the Church of Scotland the next day. His father, William Veitch, was a politically active Presbyterian minister. He and his wife Marion Fairley had a number of children, of whom Samuel was the second. Veitch was arrested in the hysteria surrounding the Popish Plot in the late 1670s, but was released. The family harboured the Duke of Argyll, who was sought for his refusal to take oaths prescribed by the Test Act, and Veitch became involved in the Scottish conspiracy contributing to the Monmouth Rebellion. When that failed, Veitch went into hiding, and eventually fled to the Dutch Republic, where he was joined in 1683 by his two oldest sons, William Jr. and Samuel. The boys studied for the ministry at Utrecht, but neither was interested in pursuing that career. Both became supporters of William of Orange, and Samuel was probably in a regiment of Scottish supporters in the 1688 Glorious Revolution that brought William and Mary to power in England.
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