The column labeled "Commissioned" indicates the date when the governor's commission was issued in London, and does not represent when the governor arrived in the province to formally take up the government. The column labeled "Left office" shows the date when the individual was replaced by the arrival of his successor, with a few exceptions. Two governors, Bellomont and William Burnet, died while still holding their commissions (although neither was in the province at the time). Governor Shute effectively abandoned his office by abruptly departing Boston for England on January 1, 1723. His administration effectively came to an end then, but he was technically the office holder until Burnet was commissioned in 1728. The last governor, John Wentworth, fled the province in August 1775, after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War brought threats to his rule and family. The province was thereafter governed provisionally until January 1776, when Meshech Weare was elected the independent state's first president under a new state constitution.