Jurist; born on
Long Island, N. Y., in 1737; graduated at Yale College in 1757, and settled as a lawyer in
Hillsboro, N. C., where he became popular, and was made colonel of
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Orange county (1763) and clerk of the Supreme Court (1765). He was also a member of the legislature, and married the daughter of
Governor Tryon.
He became rapacious, and by his exorbitant legal fees made himself very obnoxious to the people.
Their hatred was increased by his energetic exertions in suppressing the Regulator movement (see
Regulators). He fled to New York with
Governor Tryon to avoid the consequences of popular indignation.
He was appointed surveyor-general of
North Carolina in 1774.
In 1776 he raised and led a force called “the
King's American Regiment of Foot.”
After the Revolution he went to
Nova Scotia, where he became a councillor and lieutenant-governor in September,
1783, and from 1786 to 1805 was governor of Prince Edward's Island.
He rose to the rank of general in the
British army in 1808.
Fanning was an able jurist, and always regretted his later career in
North Carolina.
He was greatly influenced by his father-in-law.
He died in
London, Feb. 28, 1818.
