“T” is for Tynte, Edward [d. 1710]. Governor. Tynte was from a Somerset, England family that had recently risen to a baronetcy. Surviving English documents refer to him variously as major or colonel. In a Latin poem expressing high hopes for Tynte’s administration, a Tory writer implied that Tynte was also a man of culture. Frustrated by nearly a decade of factionalism in Carolina, the proprietors decided to institute a wholesale change of government and began by commissioning Tynte as the new governor in December 1708. After almost a year’s delay, he arrived in Charleston and was proclaimed governor in November 1709. Unfortunately, Tynte had little opportunity to realize the proprietors’ ambitions. He died on June 26, 1710, after only seven months in office. By the terms of his will, Edward Tynte left his entire estate to Frances Killner, spinster of London.
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.