History The city was named for Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, British Prime Minister from 1765 to 1766 and again in 1782. Rockingham's administration was dominated by the issue of the Thirteen Colonies. Rockingham wanted to repeal the Stamp Act 1765 and won a Commons vote in 1766 on the repeal resolution by 275 to 167.Ross J. S. Hoffman, The Marquis. A Study of Lord Rockingham, 1730–1782 (New York: Fordham University Press, 1973), p. 113. As a result, he was a popular figure among British colonists in America (who would later become known simply as "Americans"). People in North Carolina were still sympathetic toward him in the years following the United States gaining independence.
History The city was named for Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, British Prime Minister from 1765 to 1766 and again in 1782. Rockingham's administration was dominated by the issue of the Thirteen Colonies. Rockingham wanted to repeal the Stamp Act 1765 and won a Commons vote in 1766 on the repeal resolution by 275 to 167.Ross J. S. Hoffman, The Marquis. A Study of Lord Rockingham, 1730–1782 (New York: Fordham University Press, 1973), p. 113. As a result, he was a popular figure among British colonists in America (who would later become known simply as "Americans"). People in North Carolina were still sympathetic toward him in the years following the United States gaining independence.