Edward Hyde (1661-1723) |
Edward
Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon: Governor of New York (28
November 1661 - 31 March 1723
Cornbury came to be regarded in the historical literature as a moral profligate, sunk in corruption: possibly the worst governor Britain ever imposed on an American colony. The early accounts claim he took bribes and plundered the public treasury.
Nineteenth century historian George Bancroft said that
Cornbury
illustrated the worst form of the English aristocracy's "arrogance,
joined
to intellectual imbecility". Later historians characterise him as a
"degenerate and pervert who is said to have spent half of his time
dressed
in women's clothes", a "fop and a wastrel". He is said to have
delivered a "flowery panegyric on his wife's ears" after which he
invited every gentleman present to feel precisely how shell-like they
were; to
have misappropriated £1500 meant for the defence of New York Harbor,
and,
scandalously, to have dressed in women's clothing and lurked "behind
trees
to pounce, shrieking with laughter, on his victims".
Cornbury is
reported to have opened the 1702 New York Assembly clad in a hooped
gown and an
elaborate headdress and carrying a fan, imitative of the style of Queen
Anne.
When his choice of clothing was questioned, he replied, "You are all
very
stupid people not to see the propriety of it all. In this place and
occasion, I
represent a woman (the Queen), and in all respects I ought to represent
her as
faithfully as I can." It is also said that in August 1707, when his
wife
Lady Cornbury died, His High Mightiness (as he preferred to be called)
attended
the funeral again dressed as a woman. It was shortly after this that
mounting
complaints from colonists prompted the Queen to remove Cornbury from
office.
Als je
een aanvulling of opmerking hebt over deze site dan kun je een
mailtje sturen naar Transarchief |