Colonial Governor. The first mention of Coote in English history is as a member of Parliament for the burrough of Dwitwich, England. In November 1689 King William III named him the Earl of Bellomont and six years later appointed him Provincial Governor of New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He was ordered by the King to put an end to the ongoing piracy problems on the high seas, and as a result on October 10, 1695 reached an agreement with Captain Kidd empowering him to deal with the pirates in whatever way he felt necessary. In the agreement it was stipulated that all prizes taken from the French should be disposed of in the way directed by law; but that all captures from pirates should be sold for the benefit of the owners and crew, twenty five per cent of the gross proceeds going to the crew in lieu of pay, the remaining seventy five per cent to be divided between Bellomont, and Kidd. Coote's commission as Governor was delayed for financial and political reasons, and as a result wasn't able to depart for New York until late 1697, arriving in New York on April 2, 1698. The Governor made a favorable initial impression upon the people of New York. He was tall, good looking and industrious, looking much younger than he was. After only being in the Province a week resentment of his new policies began to take place. The majority of inhabitants in New York at the time were of Dutch descent and had very little respect for the English. Each successive attempt on Coote's part to perform his duty served but to increase their dislike and resentment. He was cursed, vilified and hated to the day of his death, and even after his death the people took delight in insulting his memory. A remarkable feature of Bellomont's career was that he refused to increase his fortune by affiliation or collusion with public or private plunder, although at the time no province under the English Crown offered more abundant or safer ways for amassing great wealth than the Province of New York. He served less than four years as Governor before his death, never achieving the kind of reforms he planned. He was originally buried in the chapel of the Fort at the Battery in New York city, then occupied by the royal military forces for pubic worship. In 1790 when the fort was taken down and the Battery leveled, his coffin was removed and re interred at St. Paul's Churchyard.