{{Short description|Colonial Governor of the province of Carolina (died 1710)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Edward Tynte | office = 19th Governor of Carolina | term_start = November 26, 1709 | term_end = June 26, 1710 | monarch = Anne | deputy = | president = | predecessor = Nathaniel Johnson | successor = Robert Gibbes | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = 26 June 1710 | death_place = Charles Town, Province of Carolina | constituency = | party = | profession = colonel, major, governor | alma_mater = | signature = }} '''Edward Tynte''' (died 26 June 1710) was a colonial governor of Carolina, serving from 1709 until 1710. Descending from a family of nobility, Tynte was appointed governor of Carolina in 1708. However, his arrival was delayed, and he only held office for six months before dying in 1710.
==Personal life== Tynte was from Somerset, England.<ref name="Encyclopedia" /> He was the eldest son of the Reverend Edward Tynte, Vicar of Yatton, Somerset.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kemeys Tynte|first=St. David|date=August 20, 1887|title=Notes and Queries|url=https://archive.org/details/s7notesqueries04londuoft/page/148/mode/2up|access-date=February 10, 2026|website=Internet Archive}}</ref> Tynte was a descendant of the Tynte baronets in Somerset, a group that had recently risen to baronetcy, though his mother and siblings are unknown.<ref name="Encyclopedia">{{Cite web|title=Tynte, Edward|url=https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/tynte-edward/|access-date=October 10, 2024|website=South Carolina Encyclopedia}}</ref> Tynte was a Christian, and had joined the SPG by 1710.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bultmann|first1=William A.|last2=Bultmann|first2=Phyllis W.|date=March 1964|title=The Roots of Anglican Humanitarianism: A Study of the Membership of the S.P.C.K. and the S.P.G., 1699-1720|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/42973006.pdf|access-date=October 25, 2024|journal=Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church|volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=3–48 |jstor=42973006 }}</ref> Tynte is variously called both a major and a colonel in surviving documents,<ref name="Encyclopedia" /> providing evidence for some military career. Many of his family members attended Oxford University,<ref name=Encyclopedia/> and it is believed that Tynte was a culturally knowledgeable man based on a poem written for him by William King called "Ad Amicum."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=October 1911|title=Historical Notes|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27575318|access-date=October 10, 2024|journal=The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine|volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=215–220 |jstor=27575318 }}</ref>
==Political career== On December 9, 1708, Tynte was commissioned as the governor of Carolina by William Craven, 2nd Baron Craven.<ref>{{Cite web|date=December 9, 1708|title=Commission to appoint Edward Tynte as Governor of North Carolina and South Carolina|url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr01-0369|access-date=October 10, 2024|website=Colonial and State Records of North Carolina}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=February 15, 1709|title=Letter to the Earl of Sutherland from the Council of Trade, February 15, 1709|url=https://charlestonlibrarysociety.omeka.net/items/show/1262|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=Charleston Library Society}}</ref> Concerning maritime trade, Tynte was instructed to allow ships to import or export goods only if their master and 75% of their crew were of English descent.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1709|title=Instructions to Edward Tynte concerning maritime trade in Carolina|url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr01-037|access-date=October 25, 2024|website=Colonial and State Records of North Carolina}}</ref> Other instructions included monitoring whaling and the sale of land, along with establishing friendly relationships with the local Native Americans.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 24, 1709|title=Instructions to Edward Tynte concerning the government of Carolina|url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr01-0376|access-date=October 25, 2024|website=Colonial and State Records of North Carolina}}</ref>
Tynte's arrival in South Carolina was delayed, as he arrived on November 26, 1709, and was officially named governor that day.<ref name=Encyclopedia/> Tynte was accompanied by many lawyers and merchants on his voyage to South Carolina, many of whom did not survive long after landing.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=E. Douglass|first=John|date=January 1993|title=Power of Attorneys Formation of Colonial South Carolina's Attorney System, 1700 to 1731|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/845767.pdf|access-date=December 8, 2024|journal=The American Journal of Legal History|volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.2307/845767 |jstor=845767 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=J. Klingberg|first=Frank|date=April 23, 1956|title=The Carolina chronicle of Dr. Francis Le Jau, 1706-1716|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822015513922&seq=99|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=Hathitrust}}</ref> Tynte succeeded Nathaniel Johnson as governor.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Webber|first=Mabel L.|date=October 1937|title=Sir Nathaniel Johnson and His Son Robert Governors of South Carolina|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27571509|access-date=October 10, 2024|journal=The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine|volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=109–115 |jstor=27571509 }}</ref> Per the wishes of the proprietors of Carolina to encourage settlers to cultivate the local land, Tynte gave one hundred acres of land in what would become Albemarle and Bath County to any emigrant in Carolina.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Morse|first=Jedidiah|title=The American Universal Geography|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/community.34336746.pdf|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=Jstor|jstor=community.34336746 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Francois-Xavier|date=July 20, 1829|title=The History of North Carolina From the Earliest Period V1|url=https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/16826|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=ECU Digital Collections}}</ref> One of Tynte's few acts in his short governorship was signing legislation that would enact free public education in South Carolina.<ref name=Encyclopedia/><ref>{{Cite web|last=Edgar|first=Walter|date=December 26, 2023|title="T" is for Tynte, Edward (d.1710)|url=https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/podcast/south-carolina-from-a-to-z/2023-12-26/t-is-for-tynte-edward-d-1710|access-date=October 10, 2024|website=South Carolina Public Radio}}</ref> In accordance with the planned creation of the Province of North Carolina, Tynte was ordered to deputize Edward Hyde as its first governor,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Nancy Judd|date=1981|title=North Carolina Quakers in Politics|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.25432174|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=Jstor}}</ref> appointing Thomas Cary as the interim governor until Hyde arrived to be deputized.<ref name="Edward Tynte">{{Cite web|title=Edward Tynte|url=https://www.carolana.com/Carolina/Governors/etynte.html|access-date=October 10, 2024|website=Carolana}}</ref>
==Death and aftermath== During his governorship, Tynte died on 26 June 1710,<ref>{{Cite web|last=J. Klingberg|first=Frank|date=April 23, 1956|title=The Carolina chronicle of Dr. Francis Le Jau, 1706-1716|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822015513922&seq=99|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=Hathitrust}}</ref> in Charles Town, South Carolina.<ref>{{Cite web|last=White|first=Stephen Jay|date=1986|title=From the Vestry Act to Cary's Rebellion: North Carolina Quakers and Colonial Politics|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.25432206searchText=edward+tynte&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dedward%2Btynte%26so%3Drel%26searchkey%3D1733531389279%26efqs%3DeyJjdHkiOlsiWTI5dWRISnBZblYwWldSZmFXMWhaMlZ6Il19%26doi%3D10.2307%252Fcommunity.25432206&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_image_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A346d5b7fe82d2de503f5648e5ca8202d&searchkey=1733531389279&seq=11|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=Jstor}}</ref> In his will, made shortly before he left for Carolina,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Salley Jr.|first=A. S.|date=April 1912|title=Abstracts from the Records of the Court of Ordinary of the Province of South Carolina, 1700-1711 (Continued)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27575330|access-date=December 8, 2024|journal=The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine|volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=84–88 |jstor=27575330 }}</ref> Tynte left his entire estate to Francis Killner, a spinster in London.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=July 1903|title=South Carolina Gleanings in England|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27575031|access-date=October 10, 2024|journal=The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine|volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=231–238 |jstor=27575031 }}</ref>
Before Tynte's death, he directed his three deputies to choose among themselves an interim governor to succeed Tynte.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert Gibbes|url=http://www.halseymap.com/Flash/gov-detail.asp?polID=78|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=Halsey Map}}</ref> One of Tynte's deputies, Robert Gibbes, voted for himself and bribed another deputy, Fortescue Turberville, to vote for him, causing Gibbes to succeed Tynte.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 9, 2020|title=This Month in South Carolina History, June 1710: Through Bribery, Robert Gibbes Becomes Governor of Carolina|url=https://www.theitem.com/stories/this-month-in-south-carolina-history-june-1710-through-bribery-robert-gibbes-becomes-governor-of,346527|access-date=October 10, 2024|website=The Sumter Item}}</ref>
Additionally, Tynte's death meant he did not officially sign Hyde's commission,<ref>{{Cite web|last=White|first=Stephen Jay|date=1986|title=From the Vestry Act to Cary's Rebellion: North Carolina Quakers and Colonial Politics|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.25432206|access-date=December 8, 2024|website=Jstor}}</ref> causing a power struggle between Hyde and Cary that eventually led to Cary's Rebellion.<ref name="Edward Tynte"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Spoken Wikipedia|Edward_Tynte_2.ogg|date=2024-12-08}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tynte, Edward}} Category:Colonial governors of South Carolina Category:1710 deaths Category:Governors of South Carolina Category:People from Somerset