
Nicholas Lawes (1652-18 June 1731) was the British governor of Jamaica from 1718 to 1722, succeeding Peter Heywood and preceding Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland.
Biography[]
Nicholas Lawes was born in England in 1652, and he served as Chief Justice of Jamaica from 1698 to 1703 before being appointed governor in 1718. As Governor of Jamaica, he was responsible for trying several captured pirates, taking down the pirates Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Robert Deal, and Charles Vane. In 1721, he introduced the cotton business to Jamaica, and he established the first printing press on the island. He died in 1731.