French and English Governors of Acadia
French proprietary governors, 1604-1629
Pierre du Gua, sieur de Monts, 1604-07 (governed from Île Ste.-Croix,
1604-05; from Port-Royal, 1605-07)
(colony abandoned, no governor, 1607-10)
Jean de Biencourt, sieur de Poutrincourt, 1610-14 (from
Port-Royal)
Charles de Biencourt, 1614-23 (from Port-Royal and various
posts)
Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour, 1623-28/9 (from
Cap-Sable and various posts)
First English Interregnum, 1629-1632
William Alexander, Earl of Sterling (Nova
Scotia) (governed from England with colonial headquarters at Port-Royal)
French proprietary governors, 1631-1670
Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour, 1631-32 (from
Cap-Sable)
Isaac de
Razilly, 1632-35 (from La Hève)
Charles de Menou de Charnizay, sieur d’Aulnay, 1635-38
(alone, from Port-Royal),
1638-41 (jointly from Port-Royal with La Tour as lieutenant governor), 1641-50 (alone, under title of
governor-general, 1647-50, from Port-Royal)
Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour, 1638-41 (jointly with
d'Aulnay as lieutenant governor, from Cap-Sable and Rivière St.-Jean), 1651-57
(alone, from Cap-Sable and Rivière St.-Jean; only nominally governor after the
English seized Acadia in 1654)
Emmanuel Le Borgne, sieur du Coudray, 1657-67
(in
absentia due to English occupation)
Alexandre Le Borgne de Bélisle, 1667-70 (in absentia due to English occupation)
Second English Interregnum, 1654-1670
John Leverett, 1654-57 (military commander, from Boston and
Port-Royal)
Sir Thomas Temple, 1656-70 (governor, from
Boston)
French royal governors, commanders, and
King's lieutenants, 1670-169001
Hector d’Andigné de Grandfontaine, 1670-73 (governor, from
Pentagöuet)
Jacques de Chambly, 1673-78 (governor, from Pentagöuet;
captured by Dutch privateers, summer 1674; held in Boston until ransomed by
Governor-General Frontenac in 1675; returned to France; renamed governor of
Acadia in May 1676 but went to the French Antilles instead, where he was
appointed military commander in September 1677 and governor of Grenada in
April 1679; never returned to Acadia)
Pierre de Joybert de Soulanges et de Marson, 1676-78
(commander and then governor, from Rivière St.-Jean; died 1 July 1678, Jemseg)
Michel Le Neuf de la Vallière et de Beaubassin, 1678-84
(commander from Beaubassin until confirmed as governor in 1683, from
Port-Royal in 1683 then back to Beaubassin)
Clerbaud Bergier, 1684 (King's lieutenant, from Chédabouctou)
Charles Duvet de Chevry de La Boulaye, 1684 (King's
lieutenant, from Chédabouctou)
François-Marie Perrot, 1684-87 (governor, from Port-Royal;
appointed in 1684 after being dismissed as governor of Montréal but did not
reach Acadia until September 1685)
Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Meneval, 1687-90 (governor,
from Port-Royal; captured May 1690,
held in Boston; never returned to Acadia)
English "Occupation," 1690-1696
Charles La Tourasse (commander at Port-Royal)
Edward Tyng (governed from Rivière St.-Jean)
French royal governors and commanders-continued,
1691-1711
Joseph Robinau dit Promville, sieur de Villebon, 1691-1700 (commander, from
Nashouat, Rivière
St.-Jean)
Claude-Sébastien Le Bassier de Villieu, 1700-01 (temporary commander after sudden
death of Villebon at Nashouat, from Port-Royal)
Jacques-François de Mombeton de Brouillan, 1701-05 (commander
1701-02, governor 1702-05, from
Port-Royal; died at Chédabouctou, September 1705, after a return voyage from
France)
Simon-Pierre Denys de Bonaventure, 1705-06 (commander, from Port-Royal)
Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, 1706-10 (commander and then governor,
from Port-Royal; the last royal governor of French Acadia)
Bernard-Anselme d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin, 1711 (commander,
from Pentagöuet)
British Occupation, 1710-1713
Francis Nicholson, governor (usually not
present); Samuel Vetch, lieutenant governor (from Annapolis Royal and
Boston); Sir Charles Hobby, commander-in-chief in Vetch's absence (from
Annapolis Royal)
British Governors and Lieutenant or
Deputy Governors of Nova Scotia, 1712-1765
Francis Nicholson, governor (usually from Boston or England),
1712-15 (driven from office by a hostile Whig government)
Samuel Vetch, lieutenant governor,
acting for Nicholson, 1711-15 (from Annapolis Royal but usually from Boston)
Sir Charles Hobby, acting for Vetch,
1711 (from Annapolis Royal)
Thomas Caulfeild, acting for Vetch
and then Nicholson, 1711-13, 1714-15 (from
Annapolis Royal)
Samuel Vetch, governor, 1715-17 (from England; never
returned to America)
Thomas Caulfeild, acting for Vetch, 1715-17 (from
Annapolis Royal; died in office, March 1717)
Richard Philipps, governor (usually from England), 1717-49
John Doucett, acting for Philipps, 1717-25 (from Annapolis
Royal; remained in the colony and died at Fort Anne, November 1726)
Lawrence Armstrong, acting for Philipps, 1725-39 (from
Annapolis Royal; committed suicide at Fort Anne)
Alexander Cosby, acting for Philipps, 1739-40 (from Annapolis
Royal)
Paul Mascarene, acting for Philipps, 1740-49 (from Annapolis
Royal)
Edward Cornwallis, governor, 1749-52 (from Halifax, formerly
Chebouctou)
Peregrine Thomas Hopson, governor, 1752-56 (from Halifax until
November 1753, and then
from England)
Charles Lawrence, lieutenant governor, 1752-56, acting for
Hopson from Halifax after November 1753
Charles Lawrence, governor,
1756-60 (from Halifax; died in office)
Jonathan Belcher, Jr., lieutenant governor, 1760-63 (from Halifax)
Henry Ellis, governor (appointed 1761; never served)
Montague Wilmot, lieutenant governor, 1763-64; governor, 1764-65
(from Halifax)
French and British Governors of Île
Royale, 1712-1758
Philippe de Pastour de Costebelle, 1714-17, from Baie
Ste-Anne, until his death
Joseph Mombeton de Brouillon de Saint-Ovide, 1715-17,
King's lieutenant & acting governor;
1717-39, governor, from Louisbourg
Jean-Maurice-Josué Duboisberthelot de Beaucour, June 1717,
commandant in the governor's absence
Isaac-Louis de Forant, 1739-40
Jean-Baptiste-Louis Le Prévost Duquesnel, 1740-44
Louis Dupont Duchambon, 1744-45, acting governor until
surrender of Louisbourg
British interregnum, 1745-49:
Admiral Peter Warren and William Pepperell
Commodore Charles Knowles
Colonel Peregrine Thomas Hopson
Charles des Herbiers
de
La Ralière, 1749-51
Jean-Louis, Comte de Raymond, 1751-53
Charles-Joseph d'Ailleboust, 1753-54
Augustin de Boschenry de Drucourt, 1754-58
French commissaire-ordonnateurs
(authorizing commissioners or financial commissaries)
of Île Royale, 1712-1758
Pierre-Auguste de Soubras, 1714-18
Jacques-Ange Le Normant de Mézy, 1718-28
Sébastien-François-Ange Le Normant de Mézy, 1729-35, acting
commissaire-ordonnateur; 1735-39, commissaire-ordonnateur
François Bigot, 1739-46
Jacques Prévost de La Croix, 1749-56
Commandants of Île St.-Jean, 1720-1758
Company Period (1719-1725)
Robert-David Gotteville de Belile, 1720-22
Jean-Maurice-Josué Duboisberthelot de Beaucour,
1722-23
Royal Period (1726-1758)
Jacques d'Espiet de Pensens, 1726-36
Robert Tarride Duhaget, 1736-37
Louis Dupont Duchambon, 1737-44
Joseph Dupont Duvivier, 1744-46
British control, 1746-48
Pierre Benoist, 1748-49
Claude-Élisabeth Denys de Bonnaventure, 1749-54
Gabriel Rousseau, sieur de Villejoin, 1754-58
Subdelegates of the King's
commissaire of Île St.-Jean, 1722-1758
Robert Poitiers du Buisson, 1722-44
François-Marie de Goutin, 1744-52
...
___________________
NOTES
01. Griffiths, From
Migrant to Acadian, 101, counts 11 governors & commanders over Acadia
during the 4 decades of French royal rule; 14, including
temporary commanders, are listed here. Griffiths, p. 490n1, explains: "Governors received their appointments from
France, sometimes on the recommendation of authorities in Quebec; commanders
were most often directly named by the governor[-general] in Quebec." Grandfontaine
& all subsequent French royal governors & commanders in Acadia,
then, were subject to the
authority of the governors-general and royal intendants of New France
(Canada). See Arsenault,
History, 35; Griffiths, p. 123. No commissaire-ordonnateurs, as in Île
Royale & LA, were
appointed for French Acadia.
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