The governor was a military commission made by the monarch in consultation with the Admiralty in recognition of the islands' strategic position.
[1] An early governor of Scilly was Thomas Godolphin, whose son Francis received a lease on the Isles in 1568.
The Godolphins were styled Governors of Scilly and they and their Osborne relatives held the position until 1831, when George Osbourne, 6th Duke of Leeds surrendered the lease and the islands returned to direct rule from the Duchy of Cornwall.
In 1834 Augustus Smith acquired the lease from the Duchy for £20,000 and created the title Lord Proprietor of the Isles of Scilly.
The lease remained in his family until it expired for most of the isles in 1920 when ownership reverted to the Duchy of Cornwall.