Robert Dinwiddie (1692-27 July 1770) was Governor of Virginia from 1751 to 1756, succeeding Lewis Burwell and preceding John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun.
Biography[]
Robert Dinwiddie was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1692, and he worked as a merchant before joining the British colonial service in 1727. He served as customs collector of Bermuda before serving as surveyor general of customs in the American South's ports and becoming Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Dinwiddie rose to serve as Governor from 1751 to 1756, and, in 1754, he sent George Washington to lead an eight-man delegation to demand that the French withdraw from the Ohio Valley. The ensuing Battle of Jumonville Glen resulted in the outbreak of the French and Indian War, which culminated with the British capture of French North America. Dinwiddie left Virginia in 1758, and he died in Bristol in 1770.