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Richard Nicolls
Richard Nicolls
Governor of New York
	In office; 1664–1668
Monarch	Charles II
Preceded by	Peter Stuyvesant (as Director-General of New Netherland)
Succeeded by	Francis Lovelace
Personal details
Born	c. 1624; Ampthill, Bedfordshire
Died	28 May 1672 (aged 47–48); North Sea
Relations	Matthias Nicolls (nephew); Sir George Bruce (grandfather);
Parents	Francis Nicolls (father); Margaret Bruce (mother);
Signature

Richard Nicolls (c. 1624 – 28 May 1672) was an English military officer and colonial administrator who served as the first governor of New York from 1664 to 1668.

Early life

Richard Nicolls was born c. 1624 in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. He was the son of Francis Nicolls, a barrister and politician, and his wife Margaret.^[1] Francis and Margaret were married at Abbots Langley in 1609; she was the daughter of Sir George Bruce, a Scottish merchant who built Culross Palace,^[2] and a niece of Edward Bruce, 1st Lord Kinloss.^[3]

Career

He commanded a royalist troop of horse (i.e., cavalry) during the English Civil War, and on the defeat of the king went into exile. Soon after the Restoration he became Groom of the Chamber to the Duke of York.

Province of New 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, and Samuel Maverick, to conquer New Netherlands from the Dutch and to regulate the affairs of the New England colonies and settle disputes among them. The expedition set sail from Portsmouth on 25 May 1664, and arrived for the capture 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]

*NIEUW AMSTERDAM OFTE NUE NIEUW LORX OPT TEYLANT MAN* by Johannes Vingboons (1664), an early picture of Nieuw Amsterdam made in the year when it was conquered by the English under Richard Nicolls.

He made 74th Street, beginning at the East River, the southern border patent line (which was called the "Harlem Line") of the village of Nieuw Haarlem (later, the village of Harlem); the English also renamed the village "Lancaster".^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

Legal System

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. The English system of law and administration was at once introduced into Long Island, Staten Island and Westchester, 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 nephew Matthias Nicolls, was proclaimed at Hempstead, Long Island, on 1 March 1665 and continued in force until 1683; the code was compiled from the codes of the New 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.

Return to England

Nicolls returned to England in the summer of 1668 and continued in the service of the Duke of York. He was replaced by Francis Lovelace as New York governor. He was killed in the naval battle of Southwold Bay on 28 May 1672. His monument at Ampthill incorporates the cannonball that killed him.^[1]

Government offices
Preceded by Peter Stuyvesant as Director-General of New Netherland	Proprietary Governor of the Province of New York 1664–1668	Succeeded by Francis Lovelace

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c "Richard Nicolls | English governor". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
^ "Papers on Mining in Scotland, 18th and 19th centuries". Archives Hub. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
^ Weeks, Lyman Horace (1907). Book of Bruce; ancestors and descendants of King Robert of Scotland. Being an historical and genealogical survey of the kingly and noble Scottish house of Bruce and a full account of its principal collateral families. With special reference to the Bruces of Clackmannan, Cultmalindie, Caithness, and the Shetland Islands, and their American descendants. New York: The Americana Society.
^ "Articles about the Transfer of New Netherland on the 27th of August, Old Style, Anno 1664". World Digital Library. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
^ Elliot Willensky and Fran Leadon (2010). AIA Guide to New York City. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199772919. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
^ Eric K. Washington (2012). Manhattanville: Old Heart of West Harlem. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738509860. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
^ James Renner (2007). Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738554785. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
^ "Mount Morris Bank Building" (PDF). Landmarks Preservation Committee. 5 January 1993. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2013.

Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nicolls, Richard". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 663–664.