Richard Nicolls | |
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| Governor of New York | |
| In office 1664–1668 | |
| Monarch | Charles II |
| Preceded by | Peter Stuyvesant(asDirector-General of New Netherland) |
| Succeeded by | Francis Lovelace |
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| Born | c. 1624 |
| Died | 28 May 1672(1672-05-28) (aged 47–48) |
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Richard Nicolls (c. 1624 – 28 May 1672) was an English military officer and colonial administrator who served as the firstgovernor of theProvince of New York from 1664 to 1668.
Richard Nicolls was born inc. 1624 inAmpthill,Bedfordshire. He was the son ofFrancis Nicolls, abarrister and politician, and his wife Margaret.[1] Francis and Margaret were married atAbbots Langley in 1609; she was the daughter ofSir George Bruce, a Scottish merchant who builtCulross Palace,[2] and a niece ofEdward Bruce, 1st Lord Kinloss.[3]
He commanded a royalist troop of horse (i.e., cavalry) during theEnglish Civil War, and on the defeat of the king went into exile. Soon after theRestoration he becameGroom of the Chamber to theDuke of York.
Through the influence of the Duke of York, in 1664 Nicolls was appointed to a commission with Sir Robert Carr (d. 1667), George Cartwright, andSamuel Maverick, to conquerNew Netherlands from the Dutch and regulate the affairs of the New England colonies and settle disputes among them. The expedition set sail fromPortsmouth on 25 May 1664, and arrived for thecapture of New Amsterdam on 27 August 1664.[4] New Amsterdam was surrendered to Nicolls on 8 September 1664. Under authority of a commission from the Duke (later King James) Nicolls assumed the position of deputy-governor of New Netherlands (New York).[1]
He made74th Street, beginning at theEast River, the southern border patent line (which was called the "Harlem Line") of the village of Nieuw Haarlem (later, the village ofHarlem); the English also renamed the village "Lancaster".[5][6][7][8]
In 1663, one year prior to the English gaining control of the New Netherland colony and appointing Nicolls as governor, theEsopus Wars concluded in present-dayUlster County, New York.[9] Waged over territorial disputes between theEsopus natives and Dutch settlers, the conflict left lingering tensions that Nicolls sought to pacify to prevent future hostilities.
Ultimately, the Nicolls–Esopus Indian Treaty was ratified in 1665.[10] Among the treaty’s many terms, the Esopus, “in the names of themselves and their heirs forever,” agreed to “give, grant, alienate, and confirme all their right and interest, claime or demand, to a certaine parcell of land,” including the city ofKingston and extending to present-dayKerhonkson. In exchange, the natives received “forty blankets, twenty pounds of powder, twenty knives, six kettles, [and] twelve barrs of lead,” as well as “three laced red coats” presented as gifts to the tribal leaders. Furthermore, the British and Esopus established a system of trade that included a protected trade path for the Esopus to travel unharmed and a safe house where the Esopus could stay when visiting the village.[10] The treaty was respected for generations—as evidenced by records of commemorative annual gatherings attended by Esopus leaders and local residents—and it remains recognized and celebrated today by both the City of Kingston and descendants of the Esopus.[11]
His policy was vigorous but tactful, and the transition to the new regime was made smoothly and with due regard to the interests of the conquered people. The formerly Dutch colonists were guaranteed in the possession of their property rights, their laws of inheritance, and the enjoyment of religious freedom. TheEnglish system of law and administration was at once introduced intoLong Island,Staten Island andWestchester, where the English element already predominated, but the change was made much more slowly in the Dutch sections.
A code of laws, known as the "Duke's Laws", drafted by the governor with the help of his secretary and nephewMatthias Nicolls, was proclaimed atHempstead,Long Island, on 1 March 1665 and continued in force until 1683; the code was compiled from the codes of theNew England colonies, and it provided for trial by jury, for proportional taxation on property, for the issuance of new patents for land and for land tenure only by license from the duke.
Nicolls returned to England in the summer of 1668 and continued in the service of theDuke of York. He was replaced byFrancis Lovelace as New York governor. He was killed by a cannonball[12] in the navalbattle of Southwold Bay on 28 May 1672. His monument atAmpthill incorporates the exact cannonball that killed him.[1]
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| Preceded byasDirector-General of New Netherland | Proprietary Governor of the Province of New York 1664–1668 | Succeeded by |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nicolls, Richard".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 663–664.| International | |
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