Season five of Outlander sees Governor Tryon (played by Tim Downie) taking a more important role after being on the periphery in the last series. The fourth outing saw Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) pledging an oath to the British crown in exchange for land in North Carolina, where he set up Fraser’s Ridge. However, Jamie seemed to be making a Faustian pact, one which will now see him forced to don a Redcoat and take up arms against his fellow men.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Outlander season 5, episode 1
The opening episode of Outlander saw Governor Tryon dropping some not-so-subtle hints about Jamie honouring his word by finding his godfather Murtagh Fitzgibbons (Duncan Lacroix), who was leading a revolt with the Regulators.
Murtagh had been branded an outlaw and Jamie had been ordered to form a militia to find him and bring him into the authorities.
Jamie was stuck in a predicament as he met with Murtagh in the woods and told him to make himself harder to find.
But was antagonist Governor Tryon real or just a flight of fancy on the part of author Diana Gabaldon?
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Was Governor Tryon a real person?
Governor Tryon was indeed a real person and ruled over North Carolina during the period of 1764 to 1771.
According to North Carolina History, Governor Tryon encountered colonial resistance from the outset.
There was much resentment towards him over-taxation implemented by Parliament and British regulated with the colonists wanting more independence over their affairs.
His enacted The Stamp Act in 1765 which was being used by the British to fund The Seven Years War.
These taxes put impositions on colonists in the New World and meant a stamp was needed for official legal documents such as marriages certificates and other things such as newspapers and everyday playing cards.
In the end, the Stamp Act was dissolved but Tryon continued to cause consternation after he ordered the building of the grand Tyron’s Palace in New Bern.
The structure is said to have left the people of North Carolina in huge debt which they could barely afraid to pay.
As depicted in Outlander, he did form a militia who confronted the Regulators in 1771 in the Battle of Adamance.
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His army quickly defeated the poorly-armed and trained Regulators, who had been rebelling against the corruption in the local government and high taxation.
He eventually relocated to Governor of New York after his contentious tenure in North Carolina.
Josiah Martin replaced him as the Governor of North Carolina.
Tryon went on to fight for the English in the American Revolutionary War before returning to England in 1780.
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Speaking about portraying Tryon, star Downie told Entertainment Weekly: “I absolutely relish it.
“And actually the fans have been incredibly generous considering, for all intents and purposes, I am the devil incarnate.
“Being English, being a Redcoat, being slightly threatening to Jamie, I mean, all of these things will pretty much have you thrown under a bus.”
Reflecting on playing a real-life historical figure, he said: “The actions he did were real, and they have real consequences in the real world. And that’s quite exciting and not to be taken lightly.
“He’s had enormous ramifications for the sculpting of a new country and what happened to England after that.”
Outlander airs on Starz on Sundays and on Mondays on Amazon Prime
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