William Burnet (administrator) - Governor of New York and New Jersey

Governor of New York and New Jersey

Burnet's connections to the court procured for him an appointment as the Comptroller of Customs in Great Britain. He also invested heavily in the South Sea Company, whose collapse in 1720 led him to consider more lucrative positions in the North American colonies. Correspondence with a longtime friend, Robert Hunter, who returned to England in 1719 provided an opportunity: Hunter was then the governor of New York and New Jersey, and he had returned to England for a variety of personal reasons, intending to divest himself of those posts. Hunter and Burnet were both well-connected to the Whig government then in power, so an exchange of their offices was readily approved.

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