Category: Virginia Company of London
Categories: English History | Virginia Colony | Jamestown Colony | Jamestown Colonists | Virginia History | England, Companies
Virginia Company of London
The London Company (also called the Charter of the Virginia Company of London) was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by King James I with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
The territory granted to the London Company included the coast of North America from the 34th parallel (Cape Fear) north to the 41st parallel (in Long Island Sound), but being part of the Virginia Company and Colony, the London Company owned a large portion of Atlantic and Inland Canada. The company was permitted by its charter to establish a 100-square-mile (260 km2) settlement within this area. The portion of the company's territory north of the 38th parallel was shared with the Plymouth Company, with the stipulation that neither company found a colony within 100 miles (161 km) of each other.
In December, 1606, Captain Christopher Newport's fleet of the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery sailed for Virginia with 160 men, 104 of whom stayed in Virginia. In October, 1607, Captain Christopher Newport sailed for Virginia with 120 settlers and the first supply for the colony. Wesley Frank Craven, "The Virginia Company Of London, 1606-1624", 1957, Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 5 p. 13
The London Company made landfall on April 26, 1607 at the southern edge of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, which they named Cape Henry, in present day Virginia Beach. Deciding to move the encampment, on May 24, 1607 they established the Jamestown Settlement on the James River about 40 miles (64 km) upstream from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Later in 1607, the Plymouth Company established its Popham Colony in present day Maine, but it was abandoned after about a year. By 1609, the Plymouth Company had dissolved. As a result, the charter for the London Company was adjusted with a new grant that extended from "sea to sea" of the previously-shared area between the 34th and 40th parallel. It was amended in 1612 to include the new territory of the Somers Isles (or Bermuda).
The London Company struggled financially for a number of years, with results improving after sweeter strains of tobacco than the native variety were cultivated and successfully exported from Virginia as a cash crop beginning in 1612. In 1624, the company lost its charter, and Virginia became a royal colony (although its spin-off, the Somers Isles Company existed until 1684). Wikipedia:Virginia Company of London
THE THIRD CHARTER March 12, 1612 Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, "The Third Charter", The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London, 1957, Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 4
To encourage settlers to come to Virginia, in 1618-1619, the Virginia Company's leaders drew up a great charter. Emigrants who paid their own way to Virginia would receive fifty acres of land. They would not be mere tenants. Civil authority would control the military. A council of burgesses, representatives chosen by the inhabitants of the colony for their government, would be convened as the House of Burgesses. The governor could veto their actions and the company still had overall control of the venture, but the settlers would have a say in their own government, including the right of the House of Burgesses to introduce money bills.
On July 30, 1619, the first legislative assembly in the Americas convened for a six-day meeting at the church on Jamestown Island, Virginia. A council chosen by the Virginia Company as advisers to the governor, the Virginia Governor's Council, met as a sort of "upper house," while 22 elected representatives met as the House of Burgesses. Together, the House of Burgesses and the Council would be the Virginia General Assembly.
The House's first session of July 30, 1619, accomplished little. It was cut short by an outbreak of malaria. The assembly had 22 members from the following constituencies: James City (Captain William Powell, Ensign William Spense), Charles City (Sergeant Samuel Sharpe, Samuel Jordan), the City of Henricus (Thomas Dowse, John Polentine or John Plentine), Kicoughtan (Captain William Tucker, William Capps), Martin-Brandon (Captain John Martin's Plantation) (Thomas Davis, Robert Stacy), Smythe's Hundred (Captain Thomas Graves, Walter Shelley), Martin's Hundred (John Boys, John Jackson), Argall's Gift Plantation (Thomas Pawlett, Edward Gourgainy), Flowerdew Hundred Plantation or Flowerdieu Hundred (Ensign Edmund Rossingham, John Jefferson), Captain Lawne's Plantation (Captain Christopher Lawne, Ensign Washer), and Captain Ward's Plantation (Captain John Warde or Capt. John Ward, Lt. John Gibbs or Lt. Gibbes).[6]
Especially after the massacre of about 400 colonists on March 22, 1622 by Native Americans and epidemics in the winters before and after the massacre, the governor and council ruled arbitrarily and allowed no dissent. By 1624, the royal government in London had heard enough about the problems of the colony and revoked the charter of the Virginia Company. Virginia became a crown colony and the governor and council would be chosen by the king. Nonetheless, the basic form of government of the colony was retained, although the right of the General Assembly to exist was not officially confirmed until 1639. Wikipedia:House of Burgesses of Virginia
Virginia Company of Plymouth
- The Virginia Company of London and the Virginia Company of Plymouth were chartered by James I to establish colonies in America. Mayor of Plymouth (1601) William Parker was a founding member of the Virginia Company which, on 13 August 1607, "established the Popham Colony along the Kennebec River in Maine. However, it was abandoned after about a year and the Plymouth Company became inactive." While the Plymouth Company never fulfilled its charter, the Virginia Company of London successfully established Jamestown Colony, with the first settlers arriving in April 1607. Virginia became a royal colony in 1624, after the dissolution of the Virginia Company of London. The Plymouth Company's territory "was claimed by England and became New England.... A successor company [had] established a permanent settlement in 1620 when the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, aboard the Mayflower."
- From Wikipedia articles (accessed 5 September 2020):
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