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"L" is for Lyttelton, William Henry (1724-1808)

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"L" is for Lyttelton, William Henry (1724-1808). Governor. Lyttelton began his career as a colonial administrator when he was appointed governor of South Carolina in 1755. He arrived in Charleston in June 1756. Lyttelton’s tenure was marked by frontier warfare with the Cherokee Indians and by political and constitutional conflicts with the Commons House of Assembly. In 1759, he negotiated a treaty with the Cherokees at Fort Prince George. Despite the treaty, war broke out in 1760, but by that time the governor had received an appointment to be governor of Jamaica and he left for England, leaving the fighting to British army officers and Lieutenant Governor William Bull, Jr. After he left South Carolina, William Henry Lyttelton had a long public career as a colonial governor, an ambassador, and a Member of Parliament.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.