Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Modyford, Thomas
MODYFORD, Sir THOMAS (1620?–1679), governor of Jamaica, son of John Modyford, mayor of Exeter in 1622, and of Maria, daughter of Thomas Walker, alderman of Exeter, was probably born about 1620. Sir James Modyford [q. v.] was his brother. He was a 'kinsman' or 'cousin' of George Monck, duke of Albemarle, though the exact relationship does not appear (Addit. MS. 27968, f. 164 b; Cal. State Papers, America and West Indies, 16 Feb. 1652, 25 Jan. 1661, 31 Aug. 1663, &c.) He was a barrister of Lincoln's Inn (ib. March 1661, No. 40; ib. Dom. 18 Feb. 1664), served in the king's army during the civil war, and in June 1647 sailed for Barbados. There he settled down as a planter, buying a half share of an estate for 7,000l. (Ligon, A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados), and seems to have immediately taken a prominent place in the little community. When the island proclaimed Charles II and established the church of England, Colonel Modyford figured as a zealous royalist; and on 5 Nov. 1651, as a member of council, signed the royalist declaration in reply to the summons of Sir George Ayscue (Cal. State Papers, America and West Indies, 13 Nov. 1651). Afterwards, however, he personally made his peace with Ayscue, and won over his regiment to the side of the parliament, so that, mainly through his defection or treachery, Lord Willoughby, the royalist governor, was obliged to yield (ib. 7 Jan., 16 Feb. 1652, August? 1653, p. 416). Ayscue renewed Modyford's commission as colonel; but he was naturally looked on with suspicion by the zealous parliamentarians, and in the course of 1653 was deprived of his command by Governor Searle. On his petition to Cromwell, however, he was ordered to be restored, and to be put in the council (ib. 14 Jan. 1654). And so he continued till the Restoration. His name frequently occurs in the minutes of council. On 20 March 1654–5 he handed to General Venables [q. v.] a protestation 'that he utterly abhorred and abjured the interest of the Stuarts' (Macray, Cal. of Clarendon State Papers, iii. 26). On 16 July 1660 he had received a commission as governor of Barbados, dated 24 April 1660, on which Searle resigned without dispute and the king was proclaimed (Cal. State Papers, America and West Indies). Meantime, on 9 July the king had signed a commission appointing Lord Willoughby governor of Barbados and the adjacent islands. The announcement of this reached the island on 17 Dec., and though Modyford had an intimation that it would not be acted on, he judged it right to resign (ib., Modyford to the Duke of Albemarle, 25 Jan. 1661, No. 6). He was then made speaker of the assembly; and though charges of treason were alleged against him, and letters written denouncing 'his treachery in betraying the island to the usurper, and his persecution of royalists ever since' (ib. 29 March 1661, No. 60), the interest of Albemarle bore down all opposition and maintained him in his post till, on 15 Feb. 1664, he was appointed governor of Jamaica, with very full powers and instructions to take as many settlers from Barbados as were willing to accompany him (ib. Nos. 656, 664, 687, &c.) At the same time, 18 Feb., he was created a baronet (ib. Dom.)
In June he arrived in Jamaica, and for the next seven years identified himself with the island. It was admitted that under his rule the colony made rapid advances in material prosperity; but it was alleged that he encouraged pirates, and that the wealth which flowed into the island was mainly the ill-gotten spoils of piracy, spent in filthy debauchery. Modyford's friends asserted, on the other hand, that while pirates were duly hanged, the buccaneers or privateers were honest fellows, who, though occasionally too convivial, rendered good service to the king and the colony, and their gains were not nearly so large as was reported. According to Modyford, the most 'intemperate' men on the island were the old army officers, 'who, from strict saints, were turned the most debauched devils.' 'The Spaniards,' he wrote, 'wondered much at the sickness of our people, until they knew of the strength of their drinks, but then wondered more that they were not all dead' (ib. America and West Indies, 16 Nov. 1665). It is quite certain that the deeds which rendered the name of buccaneer terrible and famous were performed under valid commissions from the governor in council, who, in the king's name, received a fifteenth of their prize-money (see Morgan, Sir Henry; ib. 28 June 1671). These commissions, Modyford argued, were rendered necessary by the aggressions of the Spaniards who had landed in Jamaica, had captured English vessels, and were preparing for hostilities on a grander scale. The king's instructions empowered him 'on extraordinary cases, by the council's advice, to use extraordinary remedies' (ib. June? 1671, No. 578; cf. also 1 March 1666, No. 1144, 14 Jan. 1667, No. 1383, 23 Aug. 1669, No. 103, &c.)
So long as the first Duke of Albemarle was living his great interest supported Modyford. But after Albemarle's death, in January 1669-70, in order to give effect to 'the treaty for establishing peace in America concluded at Madrid on 8 July 1670,' Modyford's commission was revoked in December, and Sir Thomas Lynch [q. v.], appointed to supersede him, was ordered to send him home under arrest (ib. Nos. 367, 405, 602), on the charge of ' making war and committing depredations and acts of hostility upon the subjects and territories of the King of Spain in America, contrary to his Majesty's express order and command.' In the middle of June Modyford received Lynch with 'abundance of civility,' but on 12 Aug. he was inveigled on board the Assistance frigate, and there told that he was to be sent home a prisoner. He was allowed to go to England in one of his own ships, though in charge of a guard (ib. Nos. 587-8, 604, 655). He arrived about the middle of November, and was committed to the Tower (ib. Nos. 653-4, 17 Nov. 1671). On 14 Aug. 1672 he was ordered to have the liberty of the Tower, but he seems to have been still a prisoner at the end of 1674. It is not improbable that he was released and went out to Jamaica with Sir Henry Morgan in 1675. He died at Jamaica, and was buried in the cathedral church at Spanish Town on 2 Sept. 1679.
Modyford married, about 1640, Elizabeth, daughter of Lewin Palmer of Devonshire. She died on 12 Nov. 1668—of, it is said, the plague, brought by Morgan from Portobello (The Present State of Jamaica, p. 40)—leaving a daughter, Elizabeth, and two sons, of whom Charles, the elder, predeceased his father. The younger, Thomas, succeeded to the baronetcy, which became extinct, with the third generation, in 1703 (Burke, Extinct Baronetcies).
[Calendars of State Papers, North America and West Indies; Addit. MSS. 12408, 27968; New History of Jamaica, 1740; Present State of Jamaica, 1683; Long's Hist, of Jamaica, 1774; Archer's Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies; Davis's Cavaliers and Roundheads of Barbadoes; Hatton Correspondence (Camd. Soc.), i. 56, 108.]