He was appointed Governor of Barbados by Charles II. He arrived at Barbados and took up the appointment in May 1650 and attempted to negotiate the strained politics of that island, which also experienced a division between Royalists and Parliamentarians. During this time he also sent a small colonizing party led by Major Anthony Rowse to Suriname, which established a colony there. Fort Willoughby, which had been an abandoned French outpost, was expanded at the present-day site of the city of Paramaribo).