Robert Dinwiddie

Robert Dinwiddie (born 1693, Germiston, near Glasgow, Scot.—died July 27, 1770, Clifton, Bristol, Eng.) was a British colonial administrator who, as lieutenant governor of Virginia, helped precipitate the French and Indian War.

After working as a merchant, Dinwiddie entered British government service in 1727 as collector of the customs for Bermuda. In 1738 he was appointed surveyor general (of revenues) for the southern part of America. In 1741 he became a member of the Governor’s Council of Virginia.

Dinwiddie was appointed lieutenant governor of Virginia (in fact acting as governor, since the office of governor was a sinecure) and shortly thereafter became embroiled in a controversy with the House of Burgesses over his right to institute “pistole” fees, or taxes on land patents without the owners’ consent. The Board of Trade decided the issue in favour of Virginia’s lower house.

A more serious issue arose in 1753, when Dinwiddie, supporting land claims of the Ohio Company, sent George Washington to western Pennsylvania to advise the French to leave the Ohio country. Washington’s mission led to a skirmish with the French the next year that, in turn, marked the onset of the French and Indian War.

In 1755 the disastrous defeat of General Edward Braddock near Fort Duquesne in Pennsylvania left Dinwiddie with the difficult task of protecting Virginia’s exposed frontier settlements. He raised ranger companies and a regiment under Washington and tried continuously and vigorously to obtain intercolonial cooperation for the war effort by corresponding with various colonial officials. In 1757 Dinwiddie requested leave to return to England. He departed from Virginia on Jan. 12, 1758, to spend his last years in virtual retirement in England.