One more random PotC question

[tarotgal]

Um... governors... how long were their terms back then and in that part of the world? The fic I'm writing has Governor Swann as a governor spanning something like 10 years. Is this way too unrealistic? If so... perhaps it's just the luck of my fic that he was a governor in the first part and then got re-ellected in the later part? LOL
I'm feeling very confused. And it pretty much breaks my fic badly. So someone tell me there weren't term limits for governors there back then! :-)
*wishing I'd paid more attention in history class*

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I can only tell you about British-appointed governors to Australia in the Colonial period (1788-1901), but I'm guessing (really guessing, since I don't know anything about PotC!) that it would be quite similar. It was quite usual for a governor to hold his position anywhere for about 1 year up to about 15 years. As far as I can remember, there were no set terms for governors, but if they were exceptionally incompetent, they might be stripped of their position. Because many were at least into their middle years by the time they were appointed governor (they had to have personal connections, previous experience, and were nearly always chosen from the ranks of the military or govt. officials, so they were old by the time they got to be governor!) they often retired back to England, which ended their term, rather than being demoted or something like that. Oh, and as far as I know, governors back then were appointed, not elected.

In short, governors could legally be sacked by the British monarch at any time, but this rarely happened so they stayed on until they retired back to England, or accepted another appointment somewhere else, andI think it's entirely plausible that Gov. Swann could have been around for 10+ years!

girlwithtulips