The Governor of Pendennis Castle was a military officer who commanded the fortifications at Pendennis Castle, part of the defences of the River Fal and Carrick Roads, on the south coast of Cornwall near Falmouth. Originally fortified under Henry VIII, defences in the area were intermittently maintained until after the Second World War. The office of governor was abolished in 1837, when Gen. Anderson received the colonelcy of the 78th Regiment of Foot. Governors of Pendennis Castle The early Governorship was a quasi-hereditary office, whose holders were as follows: John III Killigrew (d.1567) of Arwenack, Falmouth, first Governor, appointed by King Henry VIII. His monumental brass survives in St Budock's Church, Budock Water, near Falmouth, inscribed as follows: "Heere lyeth John Killigrew, Esquier, of Arwenack and lord of ye manor of Killigrew in Cornewall, and Elizabeth Trewinnard his wife. He was the first Captaine of Pendennis Castle, made by King Henry the eight and so continued the nynth of Queene Elizabeth at which time God tooke him to his mercye, being the yeare of Our Lord 1567. Sr John Killigrew, Knight, his son(n)e succeeded him in ye same place by the gift of Queene Elizabeth". 1567–1583/4: Sir John IV Killigrew (d.1583/4) of Arwenack, son, 2nd Governor, appointed by Queen Elizabeth I, as stated on his father's brass in St Budock's Church. 1584–1598: John V Killigrew (c. 1557 – 1605), of Arwennack, son, 3rd Governor. He was removed from office due to grave suspicions about his loyalty to the English Crown, and for a generation, the Killigrews lost their quasi-hereditary right to the office. 1598–1603: Sir Nicholas Parker (died 1603) An inscribed slate ledger stone in his memory exists against the south wall of the chancel of St Budock's Church. 1603–?1614: Sir John Parker 1614–April 1633: Sir Robert Killigrew (died 1633) of Hanworth, Middlesex, jointly with his eldest son Sir William Killigrew (1606–1695) of Kempton Park, Middlesex, a grandson and great-grandson respectively of John Killigrew (d.1567) of Arwennack, the first Governor. 1633–1635: Sir William Killigrew April 1635 – 1643: Sir Nicholas Slanning (1606-1643), a Royalist commander during the Civil War. Killed at the battle of Bristol, in 1643. His widow Gertrude Bagg remarried to Richard Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Trerice (c.1616-1687), the 2nd son of the next Governor. c. 1643 – 1646: Sir John VII Arundell (1576–1654), of Trerice, nicknamed "Jack-for-the-King". During the Civil War in 1646 he held the