in 1664, and in 1669 Wiltwyck was named Kingston, after Kingston Lisle, near Wantage, England, the family seat of Governor Francis Lovelace. In the same year the English garrison was removed. In 1673–1674 Kingston was again temporarily under the control of the Dutch, who called it Swanenburg. In 1777 the convention which drafted the new state constitution met in Kingston, and during part of the year Kingston was the seat of the new state government. On the 16th of October 1777 the British under General Sir John Vaughan (1748–95) sacked it and burned nearly all its buildings. In 1908 the body of George Clinton was removed from Washington, D.C., and reinterred in Kingston on the 250th anniversary of the building of the stockade. In 1787 Kingston was one of the places contemplated as a site for the national capital. In 1805 it was incorporated as a village, and in 1872 it absorbed the villages of Rondout and Wilbur and was made a city.
See M. Schoonmaker, History of Kingston (New York, 1888).
KINGSTON, a borough of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the North Branch of the Susquehanna river, opposite Wilkes-Barré. Pop. (1900), 3846 (1039 foreign-born); (1910) 6449. Kingston is served by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and the Lehigh Valley railways. It is the seat of Wyoming Seminary (1844; co-educational), a well-known secondary school. Anthracite coal is mined here; there are railway repair and machine-shops; and among the borough’s manufactures are hosiery, silk goods, underwear and adding machines. Kingston (at first called “Kingstown,” from Kings Towne, Rhode Island) was commonly known in its early days as the “Forty Township,” because the first permanent settlement was made by forty pioneers from Connecticut, who were sent out by the Susquehanna Company and took possession of the district in its name in 1769. In 1772 the famous “Forty Fort,” a stockade fortification, was built here, and in 1777 it was rebuilt, strengthened and enlarged. Here on the 3rd of July 1778 about 400 men and boys met, and under the command of Colonel Zebulon Butler (1731–95) went out to meet a force of about 1100 British troops and Indians, commanded by Major John Butler and Old King (Sayenqueraghte). The Americans were defeated in the engagement that followed, and many of the prisoners taken were massacred or tortured by the Indians. A monument near the site of the fort commemorates the battle and massacre. Kingston was incorporated as a borough in 1857.
(See Wyoming Valley.)
KINGSTON, the capital and chief port of Jamaica, West Indies. Pop. (1901), 46,542, mostly negroes. It is situated in the county of Surrey, in the south-east of the island, standing on the north shore of a land-locked harbour—for its size one of the finest in the world—and with its suburbs occupying an area of 1080 acres. The town contains the principal government offices. It has a good water supply, a telephone service and a supply of both gas and electric light, while electric trams ply between the town and its suburbs. The Institute of Jamaica maintains a public library, museum and art gallery especially devoted to local interests. The old parish church in King Street, dating probably from 1692 was the burial-place of William Hall (1699) and Admiral Benbow (1702). The suburbs are remarkable for their beauty. The climate is dry and healthy, and the temperature ranges from 93° to 66° F. Kingston was founded in 1693, after the neighbouring town of Port Royal had been ruined by an earthquake in 1692. In 1703, Port Royal having been again laid waste by fire, Kingston became the commercial, and in 1872 the political, capital of the island. On several occasions Kingston was almost entirely consumed by fire, the conflagrations of 1780, 1843, 1862 and 1882 being particularly severe. On the 14th of January 1907 it was devastated by a terrible earthquake. A long immunity had led to the erection of many buildings not specially designed to withstand such shocks, and these and the fire which followed were so destructive that practically the whole town had to be rebuilt. (See Jamaica.)
KINGSTON-ON-THAMES, a market town and municipal borough in the Kingston parliamentary division of Surrey, England, 11 m. S.W. of Charing Cross, London; on the London and South-Western railway. Pop. (1901), 34,375. It has a frontage with public walks and gardens upon the right bank of the Thames, and is in close proximity to Richmond and Bushey Parks, its pleasant situation rendering it a favourite residential district. The ancient wooden bridge over the river, which was in existence as early as 1223, was superseded by a structure of stone in 1827. The parish church of All Saints, chiefly Perpendicular in style, contains several brasses of the 15th century, and monuments by Chantrey and others; the grammar school, rebuilt in 1878, was originally founded as a chantry by Edward Lovekyn in 1305, and converted into a school by Queen Elizabeth. Near the parish church stood the chapel of St Mary, where it is alleged the Saxon kings were crowned. The ancient stone said to have been used as a throne at these coronations was removed to the market-place in 1850. At Norbiton, within the borough, is the Royal Cambridge Asylum for soldiers’ widows (1854). At Kingston Hill is an industrial and training school for girls, opened in 1892. There are large market gardens in the neighbourhood, and the town possesses oil-mills, flour-mills, breweries and brick and tile works. The borough is under a mayor, 8 aldermen and 24 councillors. Area, 1133 acres.
The position of Kingston (Cyningestun, Chingestune) on the Thames where there was probably a ford accounts for its origin; its later prosperity was due to the bridge which existed in 1223 and possibly long before. In 836 or 838 it was the meeting-place of the council under Ecgbert, and in the 10th century some if not all of the West Saxon kings were crowned at Kingston. In the time of Edward the Confessor it was a royal manor, and in 1086 included a church, five mills and three fisheries. Domesday also mentions bedels in Kingston. The original charters were granted by John in 1200 and 1209, by which the free men of Kingston were empowered to hold the town in fee-farm for ever, with all the liberties that it had while in the king’s hands. Henry III. sanctioned the gild-merchant which had existed previously, and granted other privileges. These charters were confirmed and extended by many succeeding monarchs down to Charles I. Henry VI. incorporated the town under two bailiffs. Except for temporary surrenders of their corporate privileges under Charles II. and James II. the government of the borough continued in its original form until 1835, when it was reincorporated under the title of mayor, aldermen and burgesses. Kingston returned two members to parliament in 1311, 1313, 1353 and 1373, but never afterwards. The market, still held on Saturdays, was granted by James I., and the Wednesday market by Charles II. To these a cattle-market on Thursdays has been added by the corporation. The only remaining fair, now held on the 13th of November, was granted by Henry III., and was then held on the morrow of All Souls and seven days following.
KINGSTON-UPON-HULL, EARLS AND DUKES OF. These titles were borne by the family of Pierrepont, or Pierrepoint, from 1628 to 1773.
Robert Pierrepont (1584–1643), second son of Sir Henry Pierrepont of Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire, was member of parliament for Nottingham in 1601, and was created Baron Pierrepont and Viscount Newark in 1627, being made earl of Kingston-upon-Hull in the following year. He remained neutral on the outbreak of the Civil War; but afterwards he joined the king, and was appointed lieutenant-general of the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Huntingdon, Cambridge and Norfolk. Whilst defending Gainsborough he was taken prisoner, and was accidentally killed on the 25th of July 1643 while being conveyed to Hull. The earl had five sons, one of whom was Francis Pierrepont (d. 1659), a colonel in the parliamentary army and afterwards a member of the Long Parliament; and another was William Pierrepont (q.v.), a leading member of the parliamentary party.
His son Henry Pierrepont (1606–1680), 2nd earl of Kingston and 1st marquess of Dorchester, was member of parliament for Nottinghamshire, and was called to the House of Lords as Baron Pierrepont in 1641. During the earlier part of the Civil War he was at Oxford in attendance upon the king, whom he represented at the negotiations at Uxbridge. In 1645 he was made a privy
