John Randolph (politician)


Sir John Randolph was an American politician. He was a Speaker of the House of Burgesses, an Attorney General for the Colony of Virginia, and the youngest son of William Randolph and Mary Isham.

Biography and family

Randolph was born in Charles City County, Virginia. He attended the College of William & Mary and completed his studies in 1711. Randolph later reflected, "I should have been an atheist if it had not been for one recollection—and that was the memory of the time when my departed mother used to take my little hand in hers and cause me on my knees to say, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'" In 1712, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, appointed Randolph as Deputy Attorney General for Charles City County, Prince George County, and Henrico County. On May 17, 1715, Randolph was admitted to Gray's Inn at the Inns of Court, then called to the bar on November 25, 1717.
Randolph was the only native of Colonial Virginia to receive a knighthood.
Randolph married Susanna Beverley around 1718 and the couple had at least four children who reached adulthood:
He died in 1737 and was interred at the chapel of the Wren Building at the College of William & Mary. His will had been witnessed in 1735 by Charles Bridges.
Randolph was a grand-uncle of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.