born 1634, Castletown, County Kildare, Ire.
died Dec. 14, 1715, London, Eng.
British colonial governor of New York.
A member of an Irish royalist family, he was exiled to France after the English Civil Wars. Recalled to England in 1677, he served as lieutenant governor of Tangiers from 1678 to 1680. As governor of New York (1682–88), he organized the colony's first representative assembly, issued a "Charter of Liberties" in 1683, and pursued a policy of cooperation with the Iroquois Confederacy against the French. He returned to England in 1691.