George Burrington

Who was George Burrington?

George Burrington was the governor of the Province of North Carolina, from January 1724 to April 1725, and again from February 1731 to 1734.

Burrington gained his office as governor through family influence. He was known principally for physically threatening other North Carolina officials, including most notably Chief Justice Christopher Gale. The Lords Proprietors of Carolina replaced him as governor because so many colonists complained about his behaviour.

However, Burrington's successor, Sir Richard Everard, proved even more unpopular with the people of North Carolina and they eventually requested that Burrington be re-appointed. When the Crown bought the colony back from the Lords Proprietors in 1729, Burrington was appointed as the first royal governor of North Carolina. He was instrumental in exploring and settling the Cape Fear area of the colony.

Maurice Moore, Edward Moseley, John Porter, John Baptiste Ashe, and other members of the "Family," a group of mostly South Carolinian families, allied by marriage, began the Lower Cape Fear in 1726 in Brunswick Town, originally with Burrington's help.