a Commonwealth fleet in 1651 led to his removal. Berkeley was returned to office by votes of the Virginia assembly and by appointment of the restored King Charles II in 1660. Governor Sir Francis Wyatt (1624–1626) Governor Sir George Yeardley (1626–1627) Acting Governor Francis West (1627–1629) Governor Sir John Harvey (1628–1639) Acting Governor John Pott (1629–1630) Acting Governor John West (1635–1636) Acting Governor Col. George Reade (1638–1639) Governor Sir Francis Wyatt (1639–1642) Governor Sir William Berkeley (1642–1652) Acting Governor Sir Richard Kemp (1644–1645) Commonwealth and Protectorate Governors (1652–1660) Governor Richard Bennett (1652–1655) Governor Edward Digges (1655–1656) Governor Lt. Col. Samuel Mathews of Mathews County, Virginia (1656–1660, died in office) Crown Governors (1660–1775) Governor Sir William Berkeley (1660–1677) Lieutenant Governor Francis Moryson (1661–1662) Governor Col. Herbert Jeffreys (1677–1678) Governor Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway (1677–1683) Lieutenant Governor Sir Henry Chicheley (1678–1680) Acting Governor Col. Nicholas Spencer (September 1683–April 1684) Governor Francis Howard, 5th Baron Howard of Effingham (1684–1692, absentee from 1688) Gen. Joseph Bridger (1684) President of the Council Nathaniel Bacon (1688–1690) Lieutenant Governor Francis Nicholson (1690–1692) Governor Sir Edmund Andros (1692–1698) Governor George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney (1698–1737, absentee) Lieutenant Governor Francis Nicholson (1698–1705) Lieutenant Governor Col. Edward Nott (1705–1706) Acting Governor Edmund Jenings (1706–1710) Lieutenant Governor General Robert Hunter (1707, captured at sea and never served) Lieutenant Governor Lt. Col. Alexander Spotswood (1710–1722) Lieutenant Governor Col. Hugh Drysdale (1722–1726) President of the Council Robert "King" Carter (1726–September 1727) Lieutenant Governor Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet (1727–1740) Governor Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle (1737–1754, absentee) Acting Governor James Blair (1740–1741) (acting for Lt. Gov. Gooch while latter out-of-country) Lieutenant Governor Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet (1741–1749) Acting Governor John Robinson Sr. died months after being sworn in as President {Acting Governor} August 1749; father of Speaker of the VA House of Burgess John Robinson (Virginia politician) Jr (1705–1766) and Colonel Beverley Robinson (1721–1792) Acting Governor Thomas Lee (1749–1750) Acting Governor Lewis Burwell I/II (1750–1751) Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie (1751–1756) Governor John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun (1756–1759) Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie (1756–January 1758) Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier (1758–1768) Governor Jeffery Amherst (1759–1768, absentee) Acting Governor John Blair, Sr. (1768) Governor Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt (1768–1770) Acting Governor William Nelson (1770–1771) Governor John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1771–June 1775) See also Virginia Virginia Company of London Virginia Colony List of governors of Virginia