North Carolina south of the Chowan River and east of the Great Dismal Swamp in 1655. By 1663, this northeastern area of the Province of Carolina, known as the Albemarle Settlements, was undergoing full-scale English settlement. During the same period, the English monarch Charles II gave the province to the Lords Proprietors, a group of noblemen who had helped restore Charles to the throne in 1660. The new province of "Carolina" was named in honor and memory of King Charles I (Latin: "Carolus"). In 1712, North Carolina became a separate colony. Except for the Earl Granville holdings, it became a royal colony
Thomas Freke (1660–1721) daughter and coheiress of Thomas Pile of Baverstock, Wiltshire and Thomas Freke and then secondly married Mary Corbett. He had no children and the Hannington estate passed to his brother William, the Socinian author. Thomas Freke (1660–1721) Thomas Freke (17 January 1660 – 1721), of Hannington, Wiltshire, was an English politician. He was born the eldest son of Thomas Freke of Hinton St. Mary, Dorset and educated at Wadham College, Oxford (1675) and the Middle Temple (1675). He succeeded his great-uncle to Hannington Hall in 1684. He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Cricklade in the