Keith, William (London) 1

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Dates 1704, 1728-49
Location London
Vocation Colonial Governor
Place of Birth Aberdeenshire
Marriage Ann Newbury
Issue
Place of birth Source Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; H.A.C. Sturgess, Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, 3 vols (London, 1949), i, 255

Sir William, Fourth Baronet. Obtain MA degree at Marischal College. Travelled to Jacobite court at St Germain. Entered Middle Temple, 3 July 1704. Returned to Scotland by 1710. From Scotland, secured post in Pennsylvania as surveyor-general. Sailed to America where he spent most of his time until the 1720s. Colonial politics saw Keith return to England c.1728. Tried to persuade king to grant him other governorship posts. Petitioned for a number of colonial favours in the 1730s - mostly unsuccessful. Spend 1734-5 in debtors prison, Fleet Street. Late 1730s became a journalist, publishing pamphlets and a history of Virginia. Launched a weekly paper 'The Citizen'. Died at London 1749.