1. Arthur Dobbs was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of North Carolina from 1754 to 1764.
22 Facts About Arthur Dobbs
1. 2.
Arthur Dobbs was born in Girvan, Ayrshire where his mother had been sent because of political and religious unrest.
3.
Arthur Dobbs was the eldest son of Richard Dobbs of County Antrim, Ireland, who was to become Sheriff of Antrim in 1694 and Mary Stewart from Ballintoy.
4.
In 1599 John Arthur Dobbs built a home known as Castle Arthur Dobbs.
5.
Arthur Dobbs was a neighbour and family friend of Jonathan Swift despite their political differences.
6.
Arthur Dobbs served briefly in a dragoon regiment in the British Army, and afterward managed his family estate.
7.
Arthur Dobbs was appointed Engineer-in-Chief and Surveyor-General in Ireland by Sir Robert Walpole, supervising the construction of the Irish Parliament House in Dublin, as well as other Irish public buildings.
8.
Arthur Dobbs was appointed High Sheriff of Antrim in 1720, and in 1727, was elected Member of Parliament for Carrickfergus, a seat he held until 1760.
9.
Whilst a member of the Irish Parliament, Arthur Dobbs purchased 400,000 acres in North Carolina in 1745 and encouraged settlement in the colony, especially by Scots Irish.
10.
Arthur Dobbs' governorship was overshadowed by the French and Indian War and the start of the American Revolution.
11.
Shortly after his arrival, he visited the western frontiers of North Carolina, organized the construction of Fort Arthur Dobbs, and attempted to raise troops to fight in the French and Indian War.
12.
Arthur Dobbs moved to Brunswick Town in 1758 where he lived for the rest of his life.
13.
Arthur Dobbs even dissolved the Assembly in 1760 and ordered new elections, but this plan backfired; a secret committee drew up outlandish charges against the governor to be sent to the King.
14.
Only the succession of King George III, which brought additional powers to Arthur Dobbs, saved him from further conflict with the Assembly.
15.
Arthur Dobbs had married in 1720 Anne, daughter and heir of Captain John Osborne of Timahoe, Ireland, and the widow of Captain Norbury.
16.
Arthur Dobbs was buried at St Philip's Church, where no sign of his grave remains.
17.
In 1759, Arthur Dobbs, recorded the first written description of the plant which would later be named the Venus Flytrap.
18.
Apart from his North Carolina interests, Arthur Dobbs was heavily involved in attempts to find a Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic during the 1740s.
19.
Arthur Dobbs actively worked to have the Hudson's Bay Company's trade monopoly revoked on the grounds that they showed little or no interest in promoting discovery expeditions relating to the Northwest Passage.
20.
Arthur Dobbs felt that others might finance exploration if they had some expectation of trade.
21.
From 1741 to 1747, Arthur Dobbs managed to stimulate exploration, the result of which convinced most people that such a passage did not exist.
22.
Arthur Dobbs was an amateur scientist and published several astronomy articles as well as a pamphlet on honeybees.