“B” is for Broughton, Thomas (d. 1737)

“B” is for Broughton, Thomas (d. 1737). Legislator, lieutenant governor. By the mid- 1690s Broughton had settled in South Carolina, emigrating from the West Indies. He quickly became involved in the Indian trade. Broughton acquired at least four plantations, including Mulberry on the Cooper River, where he built a massive, Jacobean-style brick mansion. In 1696 he was elected to the Commons House of Assembly. Broughton became lieutenant governor of South Carolina in 1731 after being recommended by his brother-in-law, Governor Robert Johnson. Following Johnson's death in 1735, Broughton assumed the role of acting governor. His brief administration was marked by a renewal of factional tensions in South Carolina--a situation exacerbated by his inept and arrogant actions in office. Thomas Broughton was among the most controversial figures in the early history of South Carolina.