Biography of Robert Dinwiddie, who served as lieutenant governor of colonial Virginia from 1751 to 1758, first under Governor Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle, and then, from July 1756 to January 1758, as deputy for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun. Dinwiddie's actions as lieutenant governor are commonly cited as precipitating the French and Indian War.