Sir Richard Everard, 4th Baronet

Sir Richard Everard, 4th Baronet (24 June 1683 – 17 February 1733) was a British soldier and colonial official who served as the fourth governor of North Carolina from 1725 to 1731.

Early life and career Everard was born on 24 June 1683 at Langleys, Much Waltham (now called Great Waltham) in Essex, the eldest son of Sir Hugh Everard and his wife, Mary Browne. He became a captain in the British Army, and may have taken part in the capture of Gibraltar in 1704. He served in the garrison there for eighteen months before returning to Britain. He then bought a more modest house at Broomfield Green.

Burrington, who had remained in the colony, nearly came to blows with Everard on 15 November 1725, asking Everard's servants, "Are all you country men such fools as Sir Richard Everard? He is a noodle, an ape...not more fit to be a governor than a hog in the woods."

Burrington again sought out Everard at his home on 2 December 1725, but was refused admittance. "Come out," demanded Burrington, "I want satisfaction of you for saying you would send me to England in irons. Therefore come out and give it me, you Everard, you a Knight, you a Baronet, you a Governor. You are a Sancho Panza, and I'll take care of you, numbskull head." (This episode led to procedures at law in which several depositions were taken.)