CULPEPER, or COLEPEPER, Lord, colonial governor of Virginia, born in England ; died there in 1719. He was one of the royal favorites to whom, in 1673, King Charles II. granted for the period of thirty-one years the entire territory of Virginia, depriving the royal colonists of the very titles of their lands. Culpeper, in 1675, purchased of the Earl of Arlington, his co-grantee, the latter's rights between the Rappahaninook and Potomac rivers. He was appointed one of the commissioners for plantations in July 1675, and proclaimed governor of Virginia for life. He came to the colony in 1680. Under his administration was passed an act of indemnity for offences committed during the rebellion under Governor Berkeley; also an act to enable the governor to grant naturalization, and one to prevent the frequent meeting of slaves. Returning to England in 1683, in violation of his orders, he was arrested immediately on his affirm; and, as he had corruptly received presents from the assembly, a jury of Middlesex found that he had forfeited his commission. He was shrewd and capable, bug enriched himself by bribery and extortion. His estates, consisting of lands on the Isle of Wight, manors in Kent, and the tract of the Northern Neck in Virginia, containing 5,700,000 acres, descended through his daughter, CATHERINE, who married Baron Fairfax, to her son, Lord Fairfax, patron of Washington.