Edmund Andros

Andros was born in London on December 6, 1637, son of Amice Andros, an adherent of Charles I, and the royal bailiff of the island of Guernsey. He served for a short time in the army of Prince Henry of Nassau, and in 1660-1662 was gentleman in ordinary to the queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England. He then served against the Dutch, and in 1672 was commissioned major in what is said to have been the first English regiment armed with the bayonet.

In 1674 he became, by the appointment of the Duke of York (who later became James II), governor of New York and the Jerseys, though his jurisdiction over the Jerseys was disputed, and until his recall in 1681 to meet an unfounded charge of dishonesty and favouritism in the collection of the revenues, he proved himself to be a capable administrator. His imperious disposition, however, rendered him quite unpopular among the colonists.

During a visit to England in 1678 he was knighted. In 1686 he became governor, with Boston as his capital, of the Dominion of New England, into which Massachusetts (including Maine), Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire were consolidated, and in 1688 his jurisdiction was extended over New York and the Jerseys. Andros angered the Puritan colonists of Boston by openly affiliating with the Church of England. They were also angered by his noisy, "sinning" soldiers. But his vexatious interference with colonial rights and customs aroused the keenest resentment, and on April 18, 1689, soon after news of the arrival of William, Prince of Orange, in England reached Boston, the colonists deposed and arrested him. In New York his deputy, Francis Nicholson, was soon afterwards deposed by Jacob Leisler; and the inter-colonial union was dissolved.

Andros was sent to England for trial in 1690, but was immediately released without trial, and from 1692 until 1698 he was governor of Virginia, but was recalled through the agency of Commissary James Blair, with whom he quarrelled. In 1693-1694 he was also governor of Maryland. From 1704 to 1706 he was governor of Guernsey. He died in London on February 24, 1714 and was buried at St. Anne's, Soho.

References

• The Andros tracts: being a collection of pamphlets and official papers issued during the period between the overthrow of the Andros government and the establishment of the second charter of Massachusetts. (1868-74). Boston, The Prince society.
• This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.