Herbert Jeffreys

Colonel Herbert Jeffreys is seen in an oil portrait made circa 1677. After the outbreak of Bacon's Rebellion, the uprising against Virginia governor Sir William Berkeley that began in 1676, a three-member commission, which included Jeffreys, was dispatched to the English colony along with more than 1,000 troops to quell the disturbance. By the time the forces arrived, however, the rebellion was over and rebel leader Bacon was dead. Jeffreys carried out his orders to supplant Berkeley as governor; in turn, Berkeley retreated to England in the hope of pleading his case to the king, but died before he had the chance to do so. Based on an earlier patent granted by King Charles II, Thomas Culpeper, second baron Culpeper of Thoresway, took over as governor after Berkeley's death; Jeffreys served as lieutenant governor, a position he held until his death in 1678. Despite his official title, however, Jeffreys was acting governor throughout his term, since Lord Culpeper never set foot in Virginia during that time.

This portrait descended in the Jeffreys family until it was donated to the Virginia Historical Society in 2006.