Thomas Pollock was born in Scotland on May 6, 1654. Pollock arrived in North Carolina by 1683, where he served as a deputy or agent for Lord Carteret and Lord Beaufort and amassed large tracts of land and other property. As president of the North Carolina Council, he served as the colonial governor from 1712 to 1714 and again from March 1772 until his death. In August 1722 he was startled to find that John Cope, an American Indian man, had broken into his house in the middle of the night and Pollock filed charges against him. He died in Chowan Precinct later that month.