Edward Maria Wingfield
Encyclopedia
Sir Edward Maria Wingfield, sometimes hyphenated as Edward-Maria Wingfield, (1550, Stonely Priory, near Kimbolton
– 1631) was a soldier
, Member of Parliament
, (1593) and English colonist in America
. He was the grandson of Richard Wingfield
and son of Thomas Maria Wingfield.
Captain John Smith wrote that in 1602-1603 Wingfield was one of the early and prime movers and organisers in "showing great charge and industry" in getting the Virginia Venture moving: he was one of the four incorporators for the London Virginia Company in the Virginia Charter of 1606 and one of its biggest financial backers. He recruited (with his cousin, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold
) about forty of the 105 would-be colonists, and was the only shareholder
to sail. In the first election in the New World, he was elected by his peers as the President of the governing council for one year beginning May 13, 1607, of what became the first successful, English-speaking colony in the New World
at Jamestown, Virginia
. He chose the site, a strong defensive position against land or canoe attack, and supervised the construction of the fort in a month and a day, a mammoth task.
After four months, on September 10, because "he ever held the men to working, watching and warding", and because of lack of food, death from disease and attack by the "naturals" (during the worst famine and drought for 800 years), Wingfield was made a scapegoat
and was deposed on petty charges. On the return of the Supply Boat on April 10, 1608, Wingfield was sent back to London to answer the charge of being an atheist, and one suspected of having Spanish sympathies. Smith's prime biographer, Philip L. Barbour, however, wrote of the "superlative pettiness of the charges... none of the accusations amounting to anything." Wingfield cleared his reputation, was named in the Second Virginia Charter, 1609, and was active in the Virginia Company
until 1620, when he was aged seventy.
He died in 1631 at the age of 81 and was buried on April 13 at St Andrew's parish church
, Kimbolton
, just ten weeks before John Smith
. Wingfield played a crucial role in 1605-08; his extensive contacts (so often used to denigrate him as an aristocratic hack) and his steady input, greatly benefited the colony.
(now part of Cambridgeshire), the eldest son of Thomas Maria Wingfield, the Elder and Margaret Kay (from Woodsome near Huddersfield
, Yorkshire
. and was raised as a Protestant His middle name, "Maria" , derived from Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII
and not from the King's Catholic daughter (Bloody) Mary
Tudor. His father, Thomas Maria Wingfield, MP (who had in 1536 renounced his calling as a priest), died when he was seven. Before he was twelve, his mother married James Cruwys of Fotheringhay
, Northamptonshire
- who became his guardian; yet the father figure
in his early years appears to have been his uncle, Jaques Wingfield, one of six contemporary martial Wingfields.
Stonely Priory House is today a listed building.
, Constable of Dublin Castle
and an Irish Privy Counsellor
. When Edward Maria was nineteen he apparently accompanied his uncle, one of the key settlers involved in building a plantation
in Munster
, Ireland, truly the "forging house for Virginia", with Sir Humphrey Gilbert
, Sir John Popham and others. His uncle held the Suffolk
Manor of Wickham Skeith
, next to the future living of the great geographer, Richard Hakluyt, the Younger
at Wetheringsett
- both being some ten miles (16 km) from Letheringham Old Hall, the ancestral home of the Wingfield Family, and from Otley Hall, ancestral home of the Wingfields' cousins, the Gosnold Family (4 miles from Letheringham
).
, the law school
, having first passed through its "feeder", Furnivall's Inn. Before completing his legal training, the lure of the drum called him to the Low Countries
.
-wielding soldiers) in the Low Countries
for the Dutch Republic
against Spanish invaders, including in 1586 at the Battle of Zutphen
, thereby gaining experience in the defense of forts and in skirmishing
. He, his brother and Sir William Drury
, were noted in the Army Roll of 1589 as "captains of success". In the first half of 1588 he was taken prisoner together with the virginiaphile Sir Ferdinando Gorges
(later Governor of Plymouth
), at or near Bergen-op-Zoom, and was held in Spanish captivity with him, first at Ghent
and then at Lille
until on September 5, 1588 when ransoms were demanded. Nine weeks later his brother captured two Spanish officers at Bergen, but was not permitted by the Allied Commander-in-Chief, Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
, to exchange them (though he was mysteriously paid later). He and Gorges
were, however, no earlier than June 1589, released as part of a prisoner exchange.
in Ireland
- where commanders reported for pay, rations and munitions to the Clerk of the Cheque & Muster-Master, Colonel Sir Ralph Lane
, the former Deputy Governor of Sir Walter Ralegh's ill-fated 1584-86 Roanoke Colony
(in modern day North Carolina
). Lane was Wingfield's father's old neighbour in Orlingbury
, near Kimbolton.
(Wiltshire
) - one of five Wingfield family MPs - a seat obtained for him by his neighbor, Anthony Mildmay
of Apethorpe, probably encouraged by Wingfield's cousin, Sir Robert Cecil
. He may have sat on a committee considering cloth in March, but this (and parliament) he decided was not for him, and he returned shortly afterward to the soldier's life at Dundalk
Garrison in Ireland.
, or Governor, of Kimbolton School
in 1600 - which riled his old fellow-colonist from 1569 in Ireland, Sir John Popham, a keen promoter of Virginia
; and indeed they clashed over getting their own men onto the school's Board of Governors. Popham had just banished Sir Edward to County Galway
in Ireland for life, for the part he had played in the Revolt of the Earl of Essex
in 1599 - doubtless telling him that this would prevent his being executed - and sequestered his house, Kimbolton Castle
, sending his family off to their London
house at St.Andrew's, Holborn
. Despite his pleas, Queen Elizabeth I never permitted Sir Edward to return home.
as the "principle forwarder" of the London Virginia Company, Captain John Smith
wrote in his General Historie that, when in 1605-06 the Jamestown expedition was making no progress, Wingfield got it moving: "Captain Bartholomew Gosnold
[Wingfield's second cousin], one of the first movers of this plantation, having many years solicited many of his friends, but found small assistance; Gosnold at last prevailed with some gentlemen, Capt John Smith, Mr. Edward-Maria Wingfield, Mr. Reverend Robert Hunt
, and diverse others, who depended a year upon his projects, but nothing could be effected, till by their great charge and industry, it came to be apprehended by certain of the Nobility, Gentry and Merchants, so that His Majesty by his letters patents, gave permission for establishing Councils, to direct here; and to govern, and to execute there."
It is also likely that Cecil, Hakluyt and others were concerned that they should not have a leader like the Earl of Essex
, who might set up his own kingdom in Virginia, and therefore sought out an old retired military man instead. (Bartholomew Gosnold
's next brother, Captain Wingfield Gosnold, was not to sail with the expedition). Conceivably Captain Gosnold (aka Gosnell) was the "Captain Gosnell" who, in 1604 at a dinner in the Isle of Wight
made some "intemperate" comment about the King, so perhaps causing important people to shun him. There is no record of Smith (or indeed Hunt) doing anything special, but Gabriel Archer, who was on Gosnold's 1602 "Cape Cod
Expedition", had in that year been active in recruitment in London.
Wingfield was involved in fundraising and was one of the biggest backers of the venture, with family friends, Sir Thomas Gates
, Sir William Waad aka Wade (Lieutenant-Governor of the Tower of London
), Sir Thomas Smythe (Treasurer of the Virginia Company
), John Martin, Sr.
, his Stonely-Huntingdon neighbor Sir Oliver Cromwell
and his London neighbor, Captain John Ratcliffe, aka Sicklemore. Even Philip L. Barbour, (who was obsessively anti-Wingfield), wrote: "John Smith was unaware, always, of the importance of the lever - the legal and financial backing that got the voyage going." (Back in 1602 it was Wingfield's 2nd cousin Henry Wriothesley
, Earl of Southampton, who funded Bartholomew Gosnold
's voyage to "discover" and name Cape Cod
and Martha's Vineyard
).
, recruited about 40% of the 105 settlers. Most of the would-be gentlemen settlers were impecunious younger sons without prospects, but more than a dozen gentleman (as Dr. John Horn
observes), and Captain John Martin
... "clearly were gentlemen with other motives, perhaps just the adventure in its own right". Wingfield obtained the approval of Richard Bancroft
, Archbishop of Canterbury
, his old London vicar at St. Andrew's, Holborn, for the Reverend Robert Hunt
of Old Heathfield
(who was in disgrace from his arrival there in 1602 for immorality with his servant, Thomasina Plumber, and for absenteeism and thereby neglect of his congregation). This recruitment may have been with the help of Richard Hakluyt, Jr.
, who was also due to sail, or maybe he was volunteered by Wingfield's cousin-by-marriage the 3rd Lord De La Warr
, the future Governor-General of Jamestown; and Hunt had his will witnessed by a Tristram Sicklemore, so may have already known John Sicklemore aka Ratcliffe. The Archbishop's approval was dated as late as November 24, 1606 - yet, sadly, at the very last moment Hakluyt, the senior of the two priests, backed out.
, Baron Arundell
and Sir Ferdinando Gorges
had funded the spring 1605 expedition to Allen's Island (in modern day Newfoundland), designed to establish a colony for British Catholicism, there is absolutely no way that Wingfield or indeed Hunt, (described by Wingfield as "a man not in any way to be touched with the rebellious humours of a popish spirit, nor blemished with the least suspicion of a factious schismatic, whereof I had a special care" ), could have had Catholic or Non-conformist leanings, the more so in the wake of the previous year's Catholic Gunpowder Plot
. All would-be colonists had to subscribe to the Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of Supremacy
of 1559, which denied the doctrine of the Pope
's authority, in both deposing rulers and in absolving Englishmen from their allegiance. Indeed the latter oath debarred Roman Catholics from participation in Anglo-American colonisation - until George Calvert founded Maryland
for persecuted Catholics and Puritans in 1634.
The 1606 Charter. On April 10, 1606, Wingfield was one of the eight "incorporators" of the Virginia Company
, who "prayed His Majesty to incorporate them, and to enable them to raise a joint stake". Divided into two missions, four men sub-incorporated as the Virginia Company of London and four as the Virginia Company of Plymouth, which would attempt to found a colony at Sagadahoc
, Maine. The four for the London (Jamestown) Company, besides Wingfield, being Richard Hakluyt
, Sir Thomas Gates
and Sir George Somers
- (i.e. these suitors ensured the legality of the Company). They prayed His Majesty to incorporate them, and to enable them to raise a joint stake. The Charter stated:
"James, by the grace of God, King of England... Whereas our loving and well disposed subjects, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Somers, Knights, Richard Hackluit, Clerk...and Edward Maria Wingfield, Esq... have been humble suitors unto us, that we would vouchsafe unto them and may in time bring the infidels and savages in those parts, to human civility, and to a settled and quiet government, Do, by these our letters patent, graciously accept of, & agree to, their humble and well intended desires....and do therefore, for Us, our heirs and successors, Grant and agree, that the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, and Edward Maria Wingfield, adventurers of and for our city of London... shall and may begin their said first plantation...and seat of their first abode & habitation", etc.
Richard Hakluyt, Edward Maria Wingfield, [etc.] Adventurers... of and for our City of London, and such others as are or shall be joined unto them of that Colony... shall and may begin their said first Plantation and Seat of that first Abode and Habitation, at any place upon the said coast of Virginia, where they shall think fit and convenient between the said four and thirty
and one and forty
[34-41] degrees of the said Latitude...
He and his fellow incorporators were licensed by King James I
to "make habitation, plantation and to deduce a colony in that part of America "commonly called Virginia, and other parts and territories not actually possessed by any Christian prince or people, between 34
and 45 degrees North and "shall and may inhabit and remain there, and shall build and fortify [there] ... "according to their best discretion"... "and shall and lawfully may ... dig, mine and search for all manner of mines... yielding to us... the fifth part only of all the same gold and silver and the fifteenth part of all the same copper... and they shall or fully may establish and cause to be made a coin, to pass current there between people... with sufficient shipping, and furniture of armour, weapons, ordnance, powder, victuals" etc...
The Charter went on to say: that Wingfield, Hakluyt, Gates and Somers could "encounter, repulse or repel and resist" all persons attempting to inhabit the said colonies "without especial licence" and that anyone they caught "trafficking" i.e. trading, should pay "five of every hundred of such wares". Anyone robbing or spoiling was to make restitution. Everything was to be in effect for 25 years before reverting to the Crown and all land was to be held of the Crown.
Wingfield apparently took a copy of the 1st Virginia Charter with him to Virginia, something that would have been provocative to a man like Gabriel Archer. Two days before he sailed - which was about the time that his Bible was stolen - he made over his estate at Stonely to seven friends and neighbours (including two Pophams and Hakluyt's friend and Wingfield's neighbour, Pickering) and five relations (including four Wingfields).
For the southern colony (Jamestown) Wingfield was the only adventurer (one risking his means) and venturer (one risking his life) to sail. The four patentees for each of the two colonies (Jamestown, and Sagadahoc
- in modern day Maine) had, as stated above, "licence to make habitation, plantation and to deduce a colony." The two colonies were to be controlled by the King's Council of Virginia - which included not only the indomitable Sir Thomas Smythe, but also Wingfield's old comrade-in-arms and fellow Prisoner of War (for 18 months in 1588-1589) in Spanish captivity, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and Wingfield's cousin-by-marriage, Lord de la Warr.
, the Discovery
and the Godspeed
sailed from Blackwall
Dock, London under the overall command of Captain Christopher Newport
on December 19, 1606 to found Jamestown
; and "the fleet fell from London" on December 20 .
" for Prince Henry
, the young heir to the throne. Here Newport and Wingfied likely would have made a formal Declaration claiming Virginia for the Crown. That night the box was opened and the orders [dated November 20, 1606] read out. Wingfield [et al.] were to be on the Council and were to elect a President for a year from their number.
.
had at Roanoke
), and the handover details were "woolly".
) of 50 tons will float... perchance.. a hundred miles from the river's mouth" "with no native people to inhabit between you and the sea coast". Probably the key factor that swayed Wingfield to select Jamestown, was Ralph Lane
's error at Roanoke in 1584 - having the ships a mile from their camp - and, as an experienced soldier not wanting to split his force, therefore kept his heaviest ship with them. So, on May 12 Wingfield vetoed Archer's Hope, the first site proposed, as too visible (thus easily bombarded by foreign ships' guns). At Jamestown, the ships could be secured to the overhanging trees - even the 120-ton Susan Constant
. That Wingfield (who as a "suitor" was instructed by the King to site their "abode and habitation... and to begin their ...first plantation" at any place he thought "fit and convenient") actually succeeded in rejecting Archer's Hope (i.e. haven), and selected the present Jamestown site (some 50 miles (80.5 km) upriver), showed that he was a tough character.
site at Jamestown. But for warding off land or canoe attacks by the "naturals", Jamestown's low field of fire was more easily defended with infantry. Wingfield was a soldier experienced in warding off Spanish foot soldiers and Irish guerrillas in dyke or swampland. Since the Councillors were not yet sworn, after two weeks of everyone arguing the pros and cons of different sites, a decision had to be made before they developed into a rabble. Furthermore, only the Kecoughtan tribe lay between them and the coast, whereas if he had sited the settlement upstream, five further tribes would have cut them off from escape. Jamestown was described by Smith as "a very great place for the erecting of a great city" and by Hamor as "a good and fertile island".
"blisters" of 20 yards (18.3 m) each) - involving the felling of perhaps 500-600 30 ft-trees, cutting them in half and burying one end firmly in the ground: a vast task. During construction, George Kendall
supervised a temporary defence-work of the felled "half-moon of trees and brushwood... the boughs of trees cast together" as cover, prior to the ends of the huge triangular palisade being "joined up", as was normal military practice.
"Newport and Smith and twenty others were sent to discover the head of the river", wrote Smith (rather than "Newport decided to go exploring" - as so many books would have it). President Wingfield was now in charge, but before long his cousin Gosnold warned him that he was driving the men too hard, ever holding them to "working, watching, and warding."
also called Wingfield "a true, valiant gentleman".
The First Holy Communion at Jamestown, June 22, 1607 (as depicted in Old Heathfield Church, Sussex, England).
are convinced that the colony's fate was "beyond the control of either settlers or their London backers". But the settlers were tough. The hardy ones survived that period and won through, establishing, as Dr. James Horn points out, "four fundamental characteristics of British America: representative government, private property, civilian control of the military, and a Protestant church"; along with English language and customs.
(1) Denying Ratcliffe a penny whittle (pocket knife
), a chicken and a spoonful of beer. [Beer, corn oil, aquavit and biscuit had actually been rationed by the Council, of which Sicklemore was of course a Member. Wingfield's own knife had apparently been stolen by the Indians and three knives that had been on charge in the store had been exchanged with the Indians for food].
(2) Serving (Ratcliffe, a.k.a.) Sicklemore with foul corn. [All the corn was indeed foul, "having fried some twenty-six weeks in the ship's hold" or after further storage in difficult circumstances at James Fort].
(3) Calling Smith a liar.
(4) Accusing Smith of concealing a mutiny plotted and confessed by Galthrop or Calthorpe, Gent.
(5) Denying Martin a spoonful of beer. Starving Martin's son to death.
(6)"Did but tend his pot, spit and oven". [Once he had a squirrel he had been given, cooked for Sicklemore, because the latter was sick, and on another occasion he had a pint of peas and pork specially boiled for a very sick old man, who later died. Most men who were sick probably sat around near a fire; and indeed he was sick when he was deposed.]
(7)Accusing Smith's old comrade-in-arms from Transylvania
, "Jehu Robinson, Gentleman" and others of "consenting to run away with the shallop" to Newfoundland (as it was later called).
(8)Starving the colony. [It was "suggested" that he had had food buried in the ground. Indeed he had, but this was then the normal way to keep food and drink (in casks or vats) from going bad in hot weather, and besides, it did stop rations from being stolen. The future Secretary, William Strachey
was to write of such "underground storehouses", and indeed such food and drink storage methods were then in use in England and indeed were still in use in England and America until well into the 20th century. Other stores were removed by Newport and others for bartering with the Indians, but Cape Merchant Thomas Studley's booking-out and booking-in "bookkeepers" (storemen) actually failed to keep adequate booking-in-and-out records].
(9)"Banquet and riot, in that he did feed himself and his servants out to the common store."
In President Wingfield's time everyone was fed out of the common store, although there may have been separate Mess areas for the Council, the Gentlemen and labourers. Clearly, if this charge were true, it would have been made to stick. "Mr. Smith, in the time of our hunger", wrote Edward Maria, "had spread a rumour in the colony that I did feast my servants out of the common store, with intent, as I gathered, to have stirred the discontented company against me". No other writer of this period even implies that the President was requisitioning extra rations for himself or his servants. Wingfield started bartering with the Indians and/or stocked up with shot game, "for, as his store increased, he mended the common pot: he had laid up besides, provision for 3 weeks' wheat beforehand...I was all for one and one to all."
Since Newport's return was a long way off, Edward Maria had imposed fair, very strict - and naturally very unpopular - rationing on the settlers].
In his Discourse, President Wingfield "replies" to the following "extra" charges:
(10) "That I combined with the Spaniards to the destruction of the colony".
(11) "That I am an atheist, because I carried not a bible, and because I forbid the preacher to preach". Why was President Wingfield accused of being an atheist? Because (a) he had no bible with him, (b) he cancelled two - or three - sermons, and (c) after he had been deposed, he failed to attend church on one or two occasions. [(a) His bible was stolen at Croft's house, just before they sailed from Blackwall. (b) When the men returned from standing to arms or counter-attacks, it was too late to have the sermon - and sermons were long in those days: so he cancelled them: "On two or three Sunday mornings, the Indians gave us alarums at our town", wrote Wingfield... "by that times they were answered, the place about us well discovered, and our divine service ended, the day was far spent." (c) And after his arrest (when he was sick and lame), he did not attend on a further one or two occasions when it was raining].
(12) "That I affected a kingdom".
(13) "That I did hide the common provision in the ground". [See riposte to Charge 9].
A 14th "charge" is suggested by Smith's biographer, Philip L. Barbour: "that Wingfield was implicated in the planned escape in the pinnace to Spain (not England) by Kendall". He wrote that Kendall began whispering about abandoning the colony - "perhaps with the connivance of Wingfield...and Wingfield seemed implicated" etc.. His primary source was presumably Thomas Studley (or, rather, Smith - see note below), who in June 1608 wrote: "Wingfield and Kendall, living in disgrace... strengthened themselves with the sailors and confederates to regain their former credit and authority, or at least such means aboard the pinnace.. to alter her course, and to go for England... Smith...forced them to stay or sink in the river. Which action cost the life of Kendall [who was shot after trial]".
Smith further wrote: "The President [Ratcliffe aka Sicklemore] and Captain Archer, not long after, intended also, to have abandoned the country".
Wingfield, however, was not charged with desertion - or he too would surely have been shot. It would seem that Smith got confused, accidentally or deliberately, over the dates of two or three different incidents. Indeed in 1608 Smith had also written: "Our store being now indifferently well provided with corn [e.g. maize] there was much ado for to have the pinnace go to England, against which Captain Martin and myself stood chiefly against it: and in fine after many debatings pro et contra, it was resolved to stay a further resolution."
Some time after Kendall was shot, Wingfield came ashore from the pinnace and stated to Smith and Archer that: "I was determined to go to England to acquaint our Council of our weaknesses... I said further, I desired not to go into England, if either Mr. President [Ratcliffe aka Sicklemore] would go."
The President by then was Ratcliffe. Smith's biographer, Philip L. Barbour, who wrote of "John Smith's usual exaggeration", describes "the superlative pettiness" of the charges against Wingfield..."none of the accusations against him amounted to anything - not even Archer's assertion that he was in league with the Spaniards to destroy the colony."
When the pragmatic Captain Newport, 47, arrived with the First Supply, he found young Smith, 27 - having been charged with losing two men to the Indians - also under restraint - for the second time; and he was, also for the second time since the expedition had set out, due to be hanged (on the morrow). Newport released Wingfield and Smith, waiving all but one of the charges against them both as petty, but he did not reinstate Wingfield, as the charge of being an atheist was so serious that he would have to be sent to England to be tried for it - just as Smith was to be later.
described his situation with a difficult bunch of men, during the worst drought for 800 years (as we now know).
lawyers (Gosnold and Percy) and the "generation gap" problem between Wingfield aged 57 vis-a-vis Smith aged 27 (and many men in their 20s and 30s), did not help. Smith also described Wingfield and probably Percy and Newport as "tufftaffety humorists" i.e. overdressed, full of humour and laughter but liable to mood swings. Smith's views of President Wingfield were repeated by John Oldmixon
in 1708, then further downgraded by the author of his entry in the (British) Dictionary of Biography
of 1880, and even more so by Barbour (1964), Smith's best biographer. Barbour was obsessively anti-Wingfield, describing him as (a) an aristocrat
(i.e. a baron
, marquess
, viscount
, earl
or duke
) - which he was not, and which (before 1618) no member of his family ever had been (though his grandfather had been a Knight of the Garter, earned through being a brilliant ambassador); and (b) as having three servants at Jamestown; but Smith was no farmer's lad. Smith too was a Captain, had three servants at Jamestown, possessed a coat of arms, owned property (in Louth
), had a well-to-do tenant farmer
father; and was, moreover, raised with the younger Bertie children and was given a personal equestrian course by the Henry, 2nd Earl of Lincoln
of Tattershall Castle
.
In 1608 King James "induced" Sir Humphrey Weld
, the Lord Mayor
, "a member of the Grocer's Company" to issue a Precept about corporate funding for Jamestown. In the 2-3 charges not considered ludicrous by the level-headed Newport, Wingfield defended himself successfully before Archbishop Bancroft in London.
at 70, he died at 81. He was still involved in the affairs of the colony a dozen years later, e.g. the Declaration of Supplies intended to be sent to Virginia in 1620, June 22 has: "Winckfield, Edward Maria, Captain, Esquire, Adventurer of the Virginia Company, London (Eng.): -L-88.". He was buried at St.Andrew's, Kimbolton on April 13, 1631.
) sums the ex-President up as follows: "he seems to have been a conscientious and fair-minded man who lacked the necessary force of character to maintain order in the difficult early conditions of the colony, where he faced an unruly and quarrelsome set of companions.". Both Percy and Archer described him as "valiant".
"The Founder of an institution, organisation or idea, etc." is defined in Collins, Cobuild as: "a person who sets it up or causes it to be built, perhaps by providing the necessary money." Edward Maria Wingfield qualifies for Founder of Jamestown on all three counts. He was an incorporator of the 1st Virginia Charter, contributed the huge sum of -L-88 [=$15,000 today], one of the very largest investments, was the only adventurer to sail to Jamestown (as cited) and, as the elected first President, built James Fort - described by John Smith as "a very great place for the erecting of a great city".
President Wingfield's memorial at Jamestown Church
Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire
Kimbolton is a large village in Cambridgeshire, England. It is approximately east of Higham Ferrers, west of St Neots and west of Cambridge, north of Bedford and south of Peterborough.-Castle:...
– 1631) was a soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
, Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, (1593) and English colonist in America
English colonial empire
The English colonial empire consisted of a variety of overseas territories colonized, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries....
. He was the grandson of Richard Wingfield
Richard Wingfield
Sir Richard Wingfield, of Kimbolton Castle was an influential courtier and diplomat in the early years of the Tudor dynasty of England.-Life:...
and son of Thomas Maria Wingfield.
Captain John Smith wrote that in 1602-1603 Wingfield was one of the early and prime movers and organisers in "showing great charge and industry" in getting the Virginia Venture moving: he was one of the four incorporators for the London Virginia Company in the Virginia Charter of 1606 and one of its biggest financial backers. He recruited (with his cousin, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States...
) about forty of the 105 would-be colonists, and was the only shareholder
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
to sail. In the first election in the New World, he was elected by his peers as the President of the governing council for one year beginning May 13, 1607, of what became the first successful, English-speaking colony in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
at Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
. He chose the site, a strong defensive position against land or canoe attack, and supervised the construction of the fort in a month and a day, a mammoth task.
After four months, on September 10, because "he ever held the men to working, watching and warding", and because of lack of food, death from disease and attack by the "naturals" (during the worst famine and drought for 800 years), Wingfield was made a scapegoat
Scapegoat
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
and was deposed on petty charges. On the return of the Supply Boat on April 10, 1608, Wingfield was sent back to London to answer the charge of being an atheist, and one suspected of having Spanish sympathies. Smith's prime biographer, Philip L. Barbour, however, wrote of the "superlative pettiness of the charges... none of the accusations amounting to anything." Wingfield cleared his reputation, was named in the Second Virginia Charter, 1609, and was active in the Virginia Company
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
until 1620, when he was aged seventy.
He died in 1631 at the age of 81 and was buried on April 13 at St Andrew's parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
, Kimbolton
Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire
Kimbolton is a large village in Cambridgeshire, England. It is approximately east of Higham Ferrers, west of St Neots and west of Cambridge, north of Bedford and south of Peterborough.-Castle:...
, just ten weeks before John Smith
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
. Wingfield played a crucial role in 1605-08; his extensive contacts (so often used to denigrate him as an aristocratic hack) and his steady input, greatly benefited the colony.
Early life
Wingfield was born in 1550 at Stonely Priory (dissolved ca. 1536), near Kimbolton, HuntingdonshireHuntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
(now part of Cambridgeshire), the eldest son of Thomas Maria Wingfield, the Elder and Margaret Kay (from Woodsome near Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
. and was raised as a Protestant His middle name, "Maria" , derived from Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
and not from the King's Catholic daughter (Bloody) Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
Tudor. His father, Thomas Maria Wingfield, MP (who had in 1536 renounced his calling as a priest), died when he was seven. Before he was twelve, his mother married James Cruwys of Fotheringhay
Fotheringhay
Fotheringhay is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England, six kilometres north east of Oundle and around west of Peterborough. It is most noted for being the site of Fotheringhay Castle which was razed in 1627...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
- who became his guardian; yet the father figure
Father Figure
"Father Figure" is the U.S. number-one song written and performed by George Michael and released on Columbia Records in 1988 as the third single from the album Faith.-History:...
in his early years appears to have been his uncle, Jaques Wingfield, one of six contemporary martial Wingfields.
Stonely Priory House is today a listed building.
Colonisation in Ireland
Jaques Wingfield was from 1559-60 until his death in 1587, Master of the Ordnance in IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Constable of Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...
and an Irish Privy Counsellor
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
. When Edward Maria was nineteen he apparently accompanied his uncle, one of the key settlers involved in building a plantation
Plantations of Ireland
Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were the confiscation of land by the English crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from England and the Scottish Lowlands....
in Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
, Ireland, truly the "forging house for Virginia", with Sir Humphrey Gilbert
Humphrey Gilbert
Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Devon in England was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.-Early life:Gilbert...
, Sir John Popham and others. His uncle held the Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
Manor of Wickham Skeith
Wickham Skeith
Wickham Skeith, Suffolk seems at first like two villages, one on the high ground based mainly around the village green and one on the lower part along The Street which runs parallel to the River Dove...
, next to the future living of the great geographer, Richard Hakluyt, the Younger
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
at Wetheringsett
Wetheringsett
Wetheringsett is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located to the east of the A140, it is the largest village in the parish of Wetheringsett-cum-Brockford....
- both being some ten miles (16 km) from Letheringham Old Hall, the ancestral home of the Wingfield Family, and from Otley Hall, ancestral home of the Wingfields' cousins, the Gosnold Family (4 miles from Letheringham
Letheringham
Letheringham is a sparsely populated civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal in Suffolk, England, on the Deben River.-Sights:St Mary is a tiny church, the remains of the tower and nave of a Priory church, and sits in a farmyard...
).
Law school
In 1575-6 Edward Maria Wingfield returned to England, where in 1576 he was admitted to Lincoln's InnLincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, the law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
, having first passed through its "feeder", Furnivall's Inn. Before completing his legal training, the lure of the drum called him to the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
.
Soldiering in the Netherlands
Along side his brother Captain Thomas Maria Wingfield, for at least four years, Edward Maria fought as a foot company commander (i.e. commander of 100 pikePike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...
-wielding soldiers) in the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
for the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
against Spanish invaders, including in 1586 at the Battle of Zutphen
Battle of Zutphen
The Battle of Zutphen was a confrontation of the Eighty Years' War on 22 September 1586, near Zutphen , the Netherlands. It was fought between forces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, aided by the English, against the Spanish, who sought to regain the northern Netherlands.Important...
, thereby gaining experience in the defense of forts and in skirmishing
Skirmisher
Skirmishers are infantry or cavalry soldiers stationed ahead or alongside a larger body of friendly troops. They are usually placed in a skirmish line to harass the enemy.-Pre-modern:...
. He, his brother and Sir William Drury
William Drury
Sir William Drury, Knt., was an English statesman and soldier,He was a son of Sir Robert Drury of Hedgerley in Buckinghamshire, and grandson of another Sir Robert Drury , who was speaker of the House of Commons in 1495. He was a brother of Dru Drury.He was born at Hawstead in Suffolk, and was...
, were noted in the Army Roll of 1589 as "captains of success". In the first half of 1588 he was taken prisoner together with the virginiaphile Sir Ferdinando Gorges
Ferdinando Gorges
Sir Ferdinando Gorges , the "Father of English Colonization in North America", was an early English colonial entrepreneur and founder of the Province of Maine in 1622, although Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.-Biography:...
(later Governor of Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
), at or near Bergen-op-Zoom, and was held in Spanish captivity with him, first at Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
and then at Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
until on September 5, 1588 when ransoms were demanded. Nine weeks later his brother captured two Spanish officers at Bergen, but was not permitted by the Allied Commander-in-Chief, Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
thumb|Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de EresbyPeregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby was the son of Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, and Richard Bertie. Bertie was Lady Willoughby de Eresby's second husband, the first being Charles Brandon, Duke of...
, to exchange them (though he was mysteriously paid later). He and Gorges
Ferdinando Gorges
Sir Ferdinando Gorges , the "Father of English Colonization in North America", was an early English colonial entrepreneur and founder of the Province of Maine in 1622, although Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.-Biography:...
were, however, no earlier than June 1589, released as part of a prisoner exchange.
Soldiering in Ireland
In the 1590s Captain Wingfield was garrisoned at DroghedaDrogheda
Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
- where commanders reported for pay, rations and munitions to the Clerk of the Cheque & Muster-Master, Colonel Sir Ralph Lane
Ralph Lane
Sir Ralph Lane was an English explorer of the Elizabethan era. He was part of the unsuccessful attempt in 1585 to colonize Roanoke Island, North Carolina. He also served the Crown in Ireland and was knighted by the Queen in 1593....
, the former Deputy Governor of Sir Walter Ralegh's ill-fated 1584-86 Roanoke Colony
Roanoke Colony
The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
(in modern day North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
). Lane was Wingfield's father's old neighbour in Orlingbury
Orlingbury
Orlingbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Northamptonshire. It is between the towns of Kettering and Wellingborough. Administratively it forms part of the borough of Wellingborough...
, near Kimbolton.
Service in Parliament
In 1593 Wingfield was a Member of Parliament for ChippenhamChippenham
Chippenham may be:* Chippenham, Wiltshire* Chippenham * Chippenham, Cambridgeshire-See also:* Virginia State Route 150, also known as Chippenham Parkway, USA* Cippenham, Berkshire, UK...
(Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
) - one of five Wingfield family MPs - a seat obtained for him by his neighbor, Anthony Mildmay
Anthony Mildmay
Sir Anthony Mildmay was a country gentleman from Northamptonshire, England, who served as Member of Parliament for Wiltshire from 1584 to 1586 and as English ambassador in Paris in 1597.-Early life:...
of Apethorpe, probably encouraged by Wingfield's cousin, Sir Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
. He may have sat on a committee considering cloth in March, but this (and parliament) he decided was not for him, and he returned shortly afterward to the soldier's life at Dundalk
Dundalk
Dundalk is the county town of County Louth in Ireland. It is situated where the Castletown River flows into Dundalk Bay. The town is close to the border with Northern Ireland and equi-distant from Dublin and Belfast. The town's name, which was historically written as Dundalgan, has associations...
Garrison in Ireland.
Kimbolton School Governor
Wingfield was a FeoffeeFeoffee
A Feoffee is a trustee who holds a fief , that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use of such trustees developed towards the end of the era of feudalism in the middle ages and became...
, or Governor, of Kimbolton School
Kimbolton School
Kimbolton School is a British HMC co-educational Public day and boarding school located in the village of Kimbolton, in rural Cambridgeshire but close to the borders of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, educating approximately 950 boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 18, with an almost even...
in 1600 - which riled his old fellow-colonist from 1569 in Ireland, Sir John Popham, a keen promoter of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
; and indeed they clashed over getting their own men onto the school's Board of Governors. Popham had just banished Sir Edward to County Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...
in Ireland for life, for the part he had played in the Revolt of the Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
in 1599 - doubtless telling him that this would prevent his being executed - and sequestered his house, Kimbolton Castle
Kimbolton Castle
Kimbolton Castle in Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, is best known as the final home of King Henry VIII's first queen, Catherine of Aragon. Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, it was the family seat of the Dukes of Manchester from 1615 until 1950...
, sending his family off to their London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
house at St.Andrew's, Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
. Despite his pleas, Queen Elizabeth I never permitted Sir Edward to return home.
Getting the Virginia Expedition Moving
Although Sir Thomas Gates was later hailed by Sir Edwin SandysEdwin Sandys (American colonist)
Sir Edwin Sandys was an English politician, a leading figure in the parliaments of James I of England. He was also one of the founders of the proprietary Virginia Company of London, which in 1607 established the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States in the colony of...
as the "principle forwarder" of the London Virginia Company, Captain John Smith
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
wrote in his General Historie that, when in 1605-06 the Jamestown expedition was making no progress, Wingfield got it moving: "Captain Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States...
[Wingfield's second cousin], one of the first movers of this plantation, having many years solicited many of his friends, but found small assistance; Gosnold at last prevailed with some gentlemen, Capt John Smith, Mr. Edward-Maria Wingfield, Mr. Reverend Robert Hunt
Robert Hunt (chaplain)
Robert Hunt , a vicar in the Church of England, was chaplain of the expedition that founded, in 1607, the first successful English colony in the New World, at Jamestown, Virginia.-Career in England:...
, and diverse others, who depended a year upon his projects, but nothing could be effected, till by their great charge and industry, it came to be apprehended by certain of the Nobility, Gentry and Merchants, so that His Majesty by his letters patents, gave permission for establishing Councils, to direct here; and to govern, and to execute there."
It is also likely that Cecil, Hakluyt and others were concerned that they should not have a leader like the Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG was an English nobleman and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599...
, who might set up his own kingdom in Virginia, and therefore sought out an old retired military man instead. (Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States...
's next brother, Captain Wingfield Gosnold, was not to sail with the expedition). Conceivably Captain Gosnold (aka Gosnell) was the "Captain Gosnell" who, in 1604 at a dinner in the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
made some "intemperate" comment about the King, so perhaps causing important people to shun him. There is no record of Smith (or indeed Hunt) doing anything special, but Gabriel Archer, who was on Gosnold's 1602 "Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
Expedition", had in that year been active in recruitment in London.
Wingfield was involved in fundraising and was one of the biggest backers of the venture, with family friends, Sir Thomas Gates
Thomas Gates (governor)
Sir Thomas Gates , followed George Percy as governor of Jamestown, the English colony of Virginia . Percy, through inept leadership, was responsible for the lives lost during the period called the Starving Time...
, Sir William Waad aka Wade (Lieutenant-Governor of the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
), Sir Thomas Smythe (Treasurer of the Virginia Company
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
), John Martin, Sr.
John Martin (Jamestown)
Capt. John Martin was a Councilman of the Jamestown Colony in 1607. He was the proprietor of Martin's Brandon Plantation on the south bank of the James River...
, his Stonely-Huntingdon neighbor Sir Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
and his London neighbor, Captain John Ratcliffe, aka Sicklemore. Even Philip L. Barbour, (who was obsessively anti-Wingfield), wrote: "John Smith was unaware, always, of the importance of the lever - the legal and financial backing that got the voyage going." (Back in 1602 it was Wingfield's 2nd cousin Henry Wriothesley
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton
Henry Wriothesley , 3rd Earl of Southampton , was the second son of Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, and his wife Mary Browne, Countess of Southampton, daughter of the 1st Viscount Montagu...
, Earl of Southampton, who funded Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States...
's voyage to "discover" and name Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
and Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
).
Recruiting settlers
In 1606, without Wingfield's input through his extensive influential contacts, it is possible that the expedition might never have sailed. In 1605-06 Wingfield and his cousin Bartholomew GosnoldBartholomew Gosnold
Bartholomew Gosnold was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States...
, recruited about 40% of the 105 settlers. Most of the would-be gentlemen settlers were impecunious younger sons without prospects, but more than a dozen gentleman (as Dr. John Horn
John Horn
John Horn may refer to:*Steve Horn, John Stephen Horn , former Republican congressman from California*John L. Horn, psychologist*John Horn , British former tennis player of the 1950s-See also:...
observes), and Captain John Martin
John Martin (Jamestown)
Capt. John Martin was a Councilman of the Jamestown Colony in 1607. He was the proprietor of Martin's Brandon Plantation on the south bank of the James River...
... "clearly were gentlemen with other motives, perhaps just the adventure in its own right". Wingfield obtained the approval of Richard Bancroft
Richard Bancroft
Archbishop Richard Bancroft, DD, BD, MA, BA was an English churchman, who became Archbishop of Canterbury and the "chief overseer" of the production of the authorized version of the Bible.-Life:...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, his old London vicar at St. Andrew's, Holborn, for the Reverend Robert Hunt
Robert Hunt (chaplain)
Robert Hunt , a vicar in the Church of England, was chaplain of the expedition that founded, in 1607, the first successful English colony in the New World, at Jamestown, Virginia.-Career in England:...
of Old Heathfield
Heathfield, East Sussex
Heathfield is a small market town, and the principal settlement in the civil parish of Heathfield and Waldron in the Wealden District of East Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, England.-Location:...
(who was in disgrace from his arrival there in 1602 for immorality with his servant, Thomasina Plumber, and for absenteeism and thereby neglect of his congregation). This recruitment may have been with the help of Richard Hakluyt, Jr.
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
, who was also due to sail, or maybe he was volunteered by Wingfield's cousin-by-marriage the 3rd Lord De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
, the future Governor-General of Jamestown; and Hunt had his will witnessed by a Tristram Sicklemore, so may have already known John Sicklemore aka Ratcliffe. The Archbishop's approval was dated as late as November 24, 1606 - yet, sadly, at the very last moment Hakluyt, the senior of the two priests, backed out.
Catholics debarred from colonisation
Despite the fact that Lord Southampton's brother-in-law the Catholic Sir Thomas HowardThomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
Admiral Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, KG, PC was a son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by his second wife Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk, the daughter and heiress of the 1st Baron Audley of Walden....
, Baron Arundell
Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour
Sir Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour was the eldest son of Sir Matthew Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire , and Margaret Willoughby, the daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby, of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire...
and Sir Ferdinando Gorges
Ferdinando Gorges
Sir Ferdinando Gorges , the "Father of English Colonization in North America", was an early English colonial entrepreneur and founder of the Province of Maine in 1622, although Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.-Biography:...
had funded the spring 1605 expedition to Allen's Island (in modern day Newfoundland), designed to establish a colony for British Catholicism, there is absolutely no way that Wingfield or indeed Hunt, (described by Wingfield as "a man not in any way to be touched with the rebellious humours of a popish spirit, nor blemished with the least suspicion of a factious schismatic, whereof I had a special care" ), could have had Catholic or Non-conformist leanings, the more so in the wake of the previous year's Catholic Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
. All would-be colonists had to subscribe to the Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of Supremacy
Oath of Supremacy
The Oath of Supremacy, originally imposed by King Henry VIII of England through the Act of Supremacy 1534, but repealed by his daughter, Queen Mary I of England and reinstated under Mary's sister, Queen Elizabeth I of England under the Act of Supremacy 1559, provided for any person taking public or...
of 1559, which denied the doctrine of the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
's authority, in both deposing rulers and in absolving Englishmen from their allegiance. Indeed the latter oath debarred Roman Catholics from participation in Anglo-American colonisation - until George Calvert founded Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
for persecuted Catholics and Puritans in 1634.
Getting the Expedition legalised
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
, who "prayed His Majesty to incorporate them, and to enable them to raise a joint stake". Divided into two missions, four men sub-incorporated as the Virginia Company of London and four as the Virginia Company of Plymouth, which would attempt to found a colony at Sagadahoc
Kennebec River
The Kennebec River is a river that is entirely within the U.S. state of Maine. It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward...
, Maine. The four for the London (Jamestown) Company, besides Wingfield, being Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
, Sir Thomas Gates
Thomas Gates (governor)
Sir Thomas Gates , followed George Percy as governor of Jamestown, the English colony of Virginia . Percy, through inept leadership, was responsible for the lives lost during the period called the Starving Time...
and Sir George Somers
George Somers
This article is about the English naval hero. For the American football player, see George Somers Admiral Sir George Somers was an English naval hero. Born in Lyme Regis, Dorset, the son of John Somers, his first fame came as part of an expedition led by Sir Amyas Preston against the Spanish...
- (i.e. these suitors ensured the legality of the Company). They prayed His Majesty to incorporate them, and to enable them to raise a joint stake. The Charter stated:
"James, by the grace of God, King of England... Whereas our loving and well disposed subjects, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Somers, Knights, Richard Hackluit, Clerk...and Edward Maria Wingfield, Esq... have been humble suitors unto us, that we would vouchsafe unto them and may in time bring the infidels and savages in those parts, to human civility, and to a settled and quiet government, Do, by these our letters patent, graciously accept of, & agree to, their humble and well intended desires....and do therefore, for Us, our heirs and successors, Grant and agree, that the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, and Edward Maria Wingfield, adventurers of and for our city of London... shall and may begin their said first plantation...and seat of their first abode & habitation", etc.
Richard Hakluyt, Edward Maria Wingfield, [etc.] Adventurers... of and for our City of London, and such others as are or shall be joined unto them of that Colony... shall and may begin their said first Plantation and Seat of that first Abode and Habitation, at any place upon the said coast of Virginia, where they shall think fit and convenient between the said four and thirty
34th parallel north
The 34th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 34 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean....
and one and forty
41st parallel north
The 41st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 41 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....
[34-41] degrees of the said Latitude...
He and his fellow incorporators were licensed by King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
to "make habitation, plantation and to deduce a colony in that part of America "commonly called Virginia, and other parts and territories not actually possessed by any Christian prince or people, between 34
34th parallel north
The 34th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 34 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean....
and 45 degrees North and "shall and may inhabit and remain there, and shall build and fortify [there] ... "according to their best discretion"... "and shall and lawfully may ... dig, mine and search for all manner of mines... yielding to us... the fifth part only of all the same gold and silver and the fifteenth part of all the same copper... and they shall or fully may establish and cause to be made a coin, to pass current there between people... with sufficient shipping, and furniture of armour, weapons, ordnance, powder, victuals" etc...
The Charter went on to say: that Wingfield, Hakluyt, Gates and Somers could "encounter, repulse or repel and resist" all persons attempting to inhabit the said colonies "without especial licence" and that anyone they caught "trafficking" i.e. trading, should pay "five of every hundred of such wares". Anyone robbing or spoiling was to make restitution. Everything was to be in effect for 25 years before reverting to the Crown and all land was to be held of the Crown.
Wingfield apparently took a copy of the 1st Virginia Charter with him to Virginia, something that would have been provocative to a man like Gabriel Archer. Two days before he sailed - which was about the time that his Bible was stolen - he made over his estate at Stonely to seven friends and neighbours (including two Pophams and Hakluyt's friend and Wingfield's neighbour, Pickering) and five relations (including four Wingfields).
For the southern colony (Jamestown) Wingfield was the only adventurer (one risking his means) and venturer (one risking his life) to sail. The four patentees for each of the two colonies (Jamestown, and Sagadahoc
Sagadahoc County, Maine
Sagadahoc County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 35,293. Its county seat is Bath. In total area, it is the smallest county in Maine....
- in modern day Maine) had, as stated above, "licence to make habitation, plantation and to deduce a colony." The two colonies were to be controlled by the King's Council of Virginia - which included not only the indomitable Sir Thomas Smythe, but also Wingfield's old comrade-in-arms and fellow Prisoner of War (for 18 months in 1588-1589) in Spanish captivity, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and Wingfield's cousin-by-marriage, Lord de la Warr.
Departure
Three little ships, the Susan ConstantSusan Constant
Susan Constant, captained by Christopher Newport, was the largest of three ships of the English Virginia Company on the 1606-1607 voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:Susan Constant was rated at 120 tons. Her keel length is estimated at 55.2 feet...
, the Discovery
Discovery (1602 ship)
Discovery was a 20-ton "fly-boat" of the British East India Company, launched before 1602.Discovery was the smallest of three ships that were led by Captain Christopher Newport on the voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia in 1607...
and the Godspeed
Godspeed (ship)
Godspeed, under Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, was one of the three ships on the 1606-1607 voyage to the New World for the English Virginia Company of London. The journey resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:All 39 passengers and 13 sailors she carried on that...
sailed from Blackwall
Blackwall, London
Blackwall is an area of the East End of London, situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets on the north bank of the River Thames.The district around Blackwall Stairs was known as Blackwall by at least the 14th century. This presumably derives from the colour of the river wall, constructed in...
Dock, London under the overall command of Captain Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to find the settlement at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent...
on December 19, 1606 to found Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
; and "the fleet fell from London" on December 20 .
Commander for the Voyage only
The Council of Virginia had decreed on September 10, 1606 that Newport was commissioned and given by the Council "with the sole charge and command of all the captains and soldiers, and mariners, and other persons, that shall go in any of the said ships and pinnace in the said voyage from the day of the date hereof [i.e. 13 weeks prior to settling at Jamestown] until such time as they shall fortune `to land' upon the said coast of Virginia." Newport, "was hired only for our transportation" (wrote Smith). From April 26, 1607 everyone knew who was a councillor, but not who was President - and knew that the first British presidential election was not to be before they had found "and landed" at a good site to settle. This was not a propitious beginning, and likely caused friction between the Councillors as they "jostled" to obtain votes.Arrival
On April 26, 1607. "...the first land they made, they called Cape HenryCape Henry
Cape Henry is a cape on the Atlantic shore of Virginia north of Virginia Beach. It is the southern boundary of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.Across the mouth of the bay to the north is Cape Charles...
" for Prince Henry
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was the elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to his father's throne...
, the young heir to the throne. Here Newport and Wingfied likely would have made a formal Declaration claiming Virginia for the Crown. That night the box was opened and the orders [dated November 20, 1606] read out. Wingfield [et al.] were to be on the Council and were to elect a President for a year from their number.
Reconnaissance and election
"Until the 13 of May they sought a place to plant in, then the Council was sworn, and Mr. Wingfield was chosen President, and an Oration made..." - by him, probably immediately after being sworn in. This was the first-ever democratic election in the New WorldNew World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
.
Command and control
At 57 Wingfield was about double the age of some of the Council. He had successfully petitioned the King for the Charter, was a "captain of success" in defence-works and skirmishing (patrolling) and was one of the expedition's main stockholders. Thus, he was the obvious choice for President. However, the line of Command and Control and of "Land and Sea Force Cooperation" was problematic, since the President was not to command the mariners (as Sir Richard GrenvilleRichard Grenville
Sir Richard Grenville was an English sailor, sea captain and explorer. He took part in the early English attempts to settle the New World, and also participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada...
had at Roanoke
Roanoke Colony
The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
), and the handover details were "woolly".
A Soldier's siting
The Council in London had advised the settlers "to sit (set) down" possibly "on some island that is strong by nature... and not overburthened with woods... so far up as a bark (barqueBarque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
) of 50 tons will float... perchance.. a hundred miles from the river's mouth" "with no native people to inhabit between you and the sea coast". Probably the key factor that swayed Wingfield to select Jamestown, was Ralph Lane
Ralph Lane
Sir Ralph Lane was an English explorer of the Elizabethan era. He was part of the unsuccessful attempt in 1585 to colonize Roanoke Island, North Carolina. He also served the Crown in Ireland and was knighted by the Queen in 1593....
's error at Roanoke in 1584 - having the ships a mile from their camp - and, as an experienced soldier not wanting to split his force, therefore kept his heaviest ship with them. So, on May 12 Wingfield vetoed Archer's Hope, the first site proposed, as too visible (thus easily bombarded by foreign ships' guns). At Jamestown, the ships could be secured to the overhanging trees - even the 120-ton Susan Constant
Susan Constant
Susan Constant, captained by Christopher Newport, was the largest of three ships of the English Virginia Company on the 1606-1607 voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.-History:Susan Constant was rated at 120 tons. Her keel length is estimated at 55.2 feet...
. That Wingfield (who as a "suitor" was instructed by the King to site their "abode and habitation... and to begin their ...first plantation" at any place he thought "fit and convenient") actually succeeded in rejecting Archer's Hope (i.e. haven), and selected the present Jamestown site (some 50 miles (80.5 km) upriver), showed that he was a tough character.
Archer's Hope
Small in number, the colonists had to decide whether to concentrate their defenses against either sea attack by the French and Spanish, or against possible assault from native tribes in the area. Archer's Hope would have been better for firing down on approaching Spanish ships (i.e. large targets), since it was higher than Wingfield's river-level island/isthmusIsthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
site at Jamestown. But for warding off land or canoe attacks by the "naturals", Jamestown's low field of fire was more easily defended with infantry. Wingfield was a soldier experienced in warding off Spanish foot soldiers and Irish guerrillas in dyke or swampland. Since the Councillors were not yet sworn, after two weeks of everyone arguing the pros and cons of different sites, a decision had to be made before they developed into a rabble. Furthermore, only the Kecoughtan tribe lay between them and the coast, whereas if he had sited the settlement upstream, five further tribes would have cut them off from escape. Jamestown was described by Smith as "a very great place for the erecting of a great city" and by Hamor as "a good and fertile island".
Work and guard duties
During his Presidency Wingfield had the James Fort constructed in a month and a day. Barbour claimed he had no proven military service - which is nonsense, since his long service in the military in Ireland and up to fifteen years in the Low Countries is listed in the Calendar of State Papers. Since of the dozen or so captains he was by far the most experienced soldier in defence-works and defensive warfare, Wingfield supervised the construction of the fort (140 yards by 100 yards (91.4 m) by 100 yards (91.4 m) plus three artilleryArtillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
"blisters" of 20 yards (18.3 m) each) - involving the felling of perhaps 500-600 30 ft-trees, cutting them in half and burying one end firmly in the ground: a vast task. During construction, George Kendall
Captain George Kendall
Captain George Kendall was a member of the first council appointed at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia. Kendall arrived with the first supply, and was sworn to the council on May 13, 1607. After landfall was made at Jamestown Island, Kendall was apparently instrumental in the construction of...
supervised a temporary defence-work of the felled "half-moon of trees and brushwood... the boughs of trees cast together" as cover, prior to the ends of the huge triangular palisade being "joined up", as was normal military practice.
"Newport and Smith and twenty others were sent to discover the head of the river", wrote Smith (rather than "Newport decided to go exploring" - as so many books would have it). President Wingfield was now in charge, but before long his cousin Gosnold warned him that he was driving the men too hard, ever holding them to "working, watching, and warding."
Repulsing attack
May 27, 1607. Belying Smith's statement that the weapons were kept boxed or casked, President Wingfield successfully repulsed a fierce, hour-long attack on Jamestown, leading from the front. Outnumbered 3:1 - with but 130 men and boys - he drove off 400 native warriors. "...And our President, Mr. Wynckfeild (who showed himself a valiant Gentleman), had one shot clean through his beard, yet `scaped hurt" [escaped being injured], wrote Archer. PercyGeorge Percy
George Percy was an English explorer, author, and early Colonial Governor of Virginia.-Early life:George Percy was born in England, the youngest son of Henry Percy, 2nd/8th Earl of Northumberland and Lady Catherine Neville. He was sickly for much of his life, possibly suffering from epilepsy or...
also called Wingfield "a true, valiant gentleman".
The First Holy Communion at Jamestown, June 22, 1607 (as depicted in Old Heathfield Church, Sussex, England).
Strict ration control
President Wingfield built the great fort, sowed the first crops, imposed strict rationing - planned "for the long time until our harvest would be ripe" (wrote Wingfield), - and "every meal of fish or flesh should excuse [e.g. would cancel out] the allowance for porridge". He got in three weeks' reserve supplies through bartering for food with "the Naturals", while (as ordered by the Council in London) "not offending them". He had to impose a strict rationing: "half a pint of wheat and as much barley boiled with water for a man a day, having fried 26 weeks in the ships hold, contained as many worms as grains".Worst drought for 800 years
In the oppressive heat, the diminishing food-stocks and American Indian attacks soon brought disease, death and dissension. President Wingfield and his settlers were not to know that their founding of Jamestown was during the worst seven-year dry spell (1606–1612) in nearly 800 years - which "dried up fresh-water supplies and devastated corn crops". Indeed Dr. William Kelso and Beverly Straube of Jamestown RediscoveryJamestown Rediscovery
Jamestown Rediscovery is an archaeological project of Preservation Virginia investigating the remains of the original settlement at Jamestown established in the Virginia Colony beginning on May 14, 1607. The period under study was from 1607-1698.Preservation Virginia archaeologist Dr...
are convinced that the colony's fate was "beyond the control of either settlers or their London backers". But the settlers were tough. The hardy ones survived that period and won through, establishing, as Dr. James Horn points out, "four fundamental characteristics of British America: representative government, private property, civilian control of the military, and a Protestant church"; along with English language and customs.
Removed as president
On September 10, 1607, amid starvation and attacks from native tribes, Wingfield was arrested and deposed from his presidency. The now ex-President was arraigned on the following charges (just as in 1609 the 4th Governor/President Percy - with ex-President (the 2nd) Ratcliffe, Archer and Martin - was to send the ex-President Smith (the 3rd president) home to answer eight similar, more serious charges):(1) Denying Ratcliffe a penny whittle (pocket knife
Pocket knife
A pocket knife is a folding knife with one or more blades that fit inside the handle that can still fit in a pocket. It is also known as a jackknife or jack-knife...
), a chicken and a spoonful of beer. [Beer, corn oil, aquavit and biscuit had actually been rationed by the Council, of which Sicklemore was of course a Member. Wingfield's own knife had apparently been stolen by the Indians and three knives that had been on charge in the store had been exchanged with the Indians for food].
(2) Serving (Ratcliffe, a.k.a.) Sicklemore with foul corn. [All the corn was indeed foul, "having fried some twenty-six weeks in the ship's hold" or after further storage in difficult circumstances at James Fort].
(3) Calling Smith a liar.
(4) Accusing Smith of concealing a mutiny plotted and confessed by Galthrop or Calthorpe, Gent.
(5) Denying Martin a spoonful of beer. Starving Martin's son to death.
(6)"Did but tend his pot, spit and oven". [Once he had a squirrel he had been given, cooked for Sicklemore, because the latter was sick, and on another occasion he had a pint of peas and pork specially boiled for a very sick old man, who later died. Most men who were sick probably sat around near a fire; and indeed he was sick when he was deposed.]
(7)Accusing Smith's old comrade-in-arms from Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, "Jehu Robinson, Gentleman" and others of "consenting to run away with the shallop" to Newfoundland (as it was later called).
(8)Starving the colony. [It was "suggested" that he had had food buried in the ground. Indeed he had, but this was then the normal way to keep food and drink (in casks or vats) from going bad in hot weather, and besides, it did stop rations from being stolen. The future Secretary, William Strachey
William Strachey
William Strachey was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America...
was to write of such "underground storehouses", and indeed such food and drink storage methods were then in use in England and indeed were still in use in England and America until well into the 20th century. Other stores were removed by Newport and others for bartering with the Indians, but Cape Merchant Thomas Studley's booking-out and booking-in "bookkeepers" (storemen) actually failed to keep adequate booking-in-and-out records].
(9)"Banquet and riot, in that he did feed himself and his servants out to the common store."
In President Wingfield's time everyone was fed out of the common store, although there may have been separate Mess areas for the Council, the Gentlemen and labourers. Clearly, if this charge were true, it would have been made to stick. "Mr. Smith, in the time of our hunger", wrote Edward Maria, "had spread a rumour in the colony that I did feast my servants out of the common store, with intent, as I gathered, to have stirred the discontented company against me". No other writer of this period even implies that the President was requisitioning extra rations for himself or his servants. Wingfield started bartering with the Indians and/or stocked up with shot game, "for, as his store increased, he mended the common pot: he had laid up besides, provision for 3 weeks' wheat beforehand...I was all for one and one to all."
Since Newport's return was a long way off, Edward Maria had imposed fair, very strict - and naturally very unpopular - rationing on the settlers].
In his Discourse, President Wingfield "replies" to the following "extra" charges:
(10) "That I combined with the Spaniards to the destruction of the colony".
(11) "That I am an atheist, because I carried not a bible, and because I forbid the preacher to preach". Why was President Wingfield accused of being an atheist? Because (a) he had no bible with him, (b) he cancelled two - or three - sermons, and (c) after he had been deposed, he failed to attend church on one or two occasions. [(a) His bible was stolen at Croft's house, just before they sailed from Blackwall. (b) When the men returned from standing to arms or counter-attacks, it was too late to have the sermon - and sermons were long in those days: so he cancelled them: "On two or three Sunday mornings, the Indians gave us alarums at our town", wrote Wingfield... "by that times they were answered, the place about us well discovered, and our divine service ended, the day was far spent." (c) And after his arrest (when he was sick and lame), he did not attend on a further one or two occasions when it was raining].
(12) "That I affected a kingdom".
(13) "That I did hide the common provision in the ground". [See riposte to Charge 9].
A 14th "charge" is suggested by Smith's biographer, Philip L. Barbour: "that Wingfield was implicated in the planned escape in the pinnace to Spain (not England) by Kendall". He wrote that Kendall began whispering about abandoning the colony - "perhaps with the connivance of Wingfield...and Wingfield seemed implicated" etc.. His primary source was presumably Thomas Studley (or, rather, Smith - see note below), who in June 1608 wrote: "Wingfield and Kendall, living in disgrace... strengthened themselves with the sailors and confederates to regain their former credit and authority, or at least such means aboard the pinnace.. to alter her course, and to go for England... Smith...forced them to stay or sink in the river. Which action cost the life of Kendall [who was shot after trial]".
Smith further wrote: "The President [Ratcliffe aka Sicklemore] and Captain Archer, not long after, intended also, to have abandoned the country".
Wingfield, however, was not charged with desertion - or he too would surely have been shot. It would seem that Smith got confused, accidentally or deliberately, over the dates of two or three different incidents. Indeed in 1608 Smith had also written: "Our store being now indifferently well provided with corn [e.g. maize] there was much ado for to have the pinnace go to England, against which Captain Martin and myself stood chiefly against it: and in fine after many debatings pro et contra, it was resolved to stay a further resolution."
Some time after Kendall was shot, Wingfield came ashore from the pinnace and stated to Smith and Archer that: "I was determined to go to England to acquaint our Council of our weaknesses... I said further, I desired not to go into England, if either Mr. President [Ratcliffe aka Sicklemore] would go."
The President by then was Ratcliffe. Smith's biographer, Philip L. Barbour, who wrote of "John Smith's usual exaggeration", describes "the superlative pettiness" of the charges against Wingfield..."none of the accusations against him amounted to anything - not even Archer's assertion that he was in league with the Spaniards to destroy the colony."
When the pragmatic Captain Newport, 47, arrived with the First Supply, he found young Smith, 27 - having been charged with losing two men to the Indians - also under restraint - for the second time; and he was, also for the second time since the expedition had set out, due to be hanged (on the morrow). Newport released Wingfield and Smith, waiving all but one of the charges against them both as petty, but he did not reinstate Wingfield, as the charge of being an atheist was so serious that he would have to be sent to England to be tried for it - just as Smith was to be later.
Attempted reinstatement
The disgruntled settlers now thought that the 2nd President, John Ratcliffe, was the source of all their problems, and Smith, Kendall and Percy planned to send James Read the blacksmith on a maintenance visit to the pinnace, where Wingfield was held, to see if Wingfield would agree to be reinstated, but Ratcliffe learned of these plans and had Read publicly thrashed.Rebuttal of charges
In his Discourse of Virginia (1608), Wingfield comes across as a tough old soldier - too tough with the men, and too old for the job. He "could not make ropes of sand" as Stephen Vincent BenetStephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét was an American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist. Benét is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body , for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "By...
described his situation with a difficult bunch of men, during the worst drought for 800 years (as we now know).
Reputation
Up to the 1980s, Wingfield's reputation as a villain stems from his chief rival, John Smith, who was apparently prone to supreme exaggeration,. Newly freed from arrest, Smith wrote of Wingfield's "overweening jealousy" i.e. supremely self-confident and suspicious of rivalry - which one could argue are two necessary qualities required by a commander. Command is lonely and doubtless the "cliqueyness" of the "Cape Cod Crew of 1602" (Gosnold, Martin and Archer), the Middle TempleMiddle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
lawyers (Gosnold and Percy) and the "generation gap" problem between Wingfield aged 57 vis-a-vis Smith aged 27 (and many men in their 20s and 30s), did not help. Smith also described Wingfield and probably Percy and Newport as "tufftaffety humorists" i.e. overdressed, full of humour and laughter but liable to mood swings. Smith's views of President Wingfield were repeated by John Oldmixon
John Oldmixon
John Oldmixon was an English historian.He was a son of John Oldmixon of Oldmixon, Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. His first writings were poetry and dramas, among them being Amores Britannici; Epistles historical and gallant ; and a tragedy, The Governor of Cyprus...
in 1708, then further downgraded by the author of his entry in the (British) Dictionary of Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
of 1880, and even more so by Barbour (1964), Smith's best biographer. Barbour was obsessively anti-Wingfield, describing him as (a) an aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
(i.e. a baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
, marquess
Marquess
A marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is also used to translate equivalent oriental styles, as in imperial China, Japan, and Vietnam...
, viscount
Viscount
A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...
, earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
or duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
) - which he was not, and which (before 1618) no member of his family ever had been (though his grandfather had been a Knight of the Garter, earned through being a brilliant ambassador); and (b) as having three servants at Jamestown; but Smith was no farmer's lad. Smith too was a Captain, had three servants at Jamestown, possessed a coat of arms, owned property (in Louth
Louth, Lincolnshire
Louth is a market town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Known as the "capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds", it is situated where the ancient trackway Barton Street crosses the River Lud, and has a total resident population of 15,930.The Greenwich...
), had a well-to-do tenant farmer
Tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...
father; and was, moreover, raised with the younger Bertie children and was given a personal equestrian course by the Henry, 2nd Earl of Lincoln
Earl of Lincoln
Earl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the Peerage of England.-Earls of Lincoln, First Creation :*William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Lincoln and 1st Earl of Arundel Earl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the Peerage of England.-Earls of Lincoln, First...
of Tattershall Castle
Tattershall Castle (Lincolnshire)
Tattershall Castle is a castle in Tattershall, Lincolnshire, England, north east of Sleaford, and in the care of the National Trust.-History:...
.
In 1608 King James "induced" Sir Humphrey Weld
Humphrey Weld
Humphrey Weld was an English merchant who was Lord Mayor of London in 1608.Weld was a city of London merchant and a member of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. On 9 May 1598, he was elected an alderman of the City of London for Farringdon Within ward. He was Sheriff of London from 1599 to 1600....
, the Lord Mayor
Lord Mayor
The Lord Mayor is the title of the Mayor of a major city, with special recognition.-Commonwealth of Nations:* In Australia it is a political position. Australian cities with Lord Mayors: Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong...
, "a member of the Grocer's Company" to issue a Precept about corporate funding for Jamestown. In the 2-3 charges not considered ludicrous by the level-headed Newport, Wingfield defended himself successfully before Archbishop Bancroft in London.
Later involvement with the Virginia Company
Still involved with the Virginia CompanyVirginia Company
The Virginia Company refers collectively to a pair of English joint stock companies chartered by James I on 10 April1606 with the purposes of establishing settlements on the coast of North America...
at 70, he died at 81. He was still involved in the affairs of the colony a dozen years later, e.g. the Declaration of Supplies intended to be sent to Virginia in 1620, June 22 has: "Winckfield, Edward Maria, Captain, Esquire, Adventurer of the Virginia Company, London (Eng.): -L-88.". He was buried at St.Andrew's, Kimbolton on April 13, 1631.
Founder
The latest British DNB (Dictionary of National BiographyDictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
) sums the ex-President up as follows: "he seems to have been a conscientious and fair-minded man who lacked the necessary force of character to maintain order in the difficult early conditions of the colony, where he faced an unruly and quarrelsome set of companions.". Both Percy and Archer described him as "valiant".
"The Founder of an institution, organisation or idea, etc." is defined in Collins, Cobuild as: "a person who sets it up or causes it to be built, perhaps by providing the necessary money." Edward Maria Wingfield qualifies for Founder of Jamestown on all three counts. He was an incorporator of the 1st Virginia Charter, contributed the huge sum of -L-88 [=$15,000 today], one of the very largest investments, was the only adventurer to sail to Jamestown (as cited) and, as the elected first President, built James Fort - described by John Smith as "a very great place for the erecting of a great city".
President Wingfield's memorial at Jamestown Church
Wingfield On Film
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in First Landing (2007) - played by David ThewlisDavid ThewlisDavid Thewlis is an English actor of stage and screen. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin, in the Harry Potter film series...
in The New World (2005) - played by Tony GoldwynTony GoldwynAnthony Howard "Tony" Goldwyn is an American actor and director. He portrayed the villain Carl Bruner in Ghost, Colonel Bagley in The Last Samurai, and the voice of the title character of the Disney animated Tarzan.-Early life:...
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in Captain John Smith and PocahontasCaptain John Smith and PocahontasCaptain John Smith and Pocahontas is a 1953 American historical film directed by Lew Landers. The distributor was United Artists. It stars Anthony Dexter, Jody Lawrance and Alan Hale. It depicts the foundation of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia by English settlers and the relationship between...
(1953)