John Harvey (Virginia governor)

Sir John Harvey (fl. 1582 - d. 1646)[3][4] was a Crown Governor of Virginia.[5] Before becoming involved in Virginia politics, he was a transporter of settlers from England, owning a ship called the Southampton.[2] In 1624, Harvey reported to the royal commissioner that the colony had recovered faster than expected from the Indian massacre of 1622.[2] Harvey traveled back and forth between the New World and England. Harvey was appointed to the position on March 26, 1628 by Charles I of England.[6]

Sir
John Harvey
Depiction of the arrest of John Harvey, 1635
Crown Governor
Appointed byCharles I of England
Preceded byGeorge Yeardley
Succeeded byJohn West
In office
1628–1635
In office
1636–1639
Personal details
Bornfl. 1582
Died1646
Kingdom of England
SpouseElizabeth Peircey [sic] Stephens (m. 1638)[1]
RelativesSir Simon Harvey (brother)[2]
OccupationSea captain[2]
SignatureJohn Harvey

In autumn 1629, Harvey departed England aboard the Friendship with 300 other settlers to Virginia.[2] Harvey appointed several inexperienced politicians, including Samuel Matthews and William Claiborne to the Virginia Governor's Council.

In 1635 Harvey was suspended and impeached by the Council of Virginia (who named John West as a temporary replacement), and he returned to England. He claimed a conspiracy to change the charter of the colony by John Wolstenholme was the reason for the failures of his administration.[7]

Charles I restored him to his post in 1636.[8] Harvey returned to Virginia in January 1637 and served until November 1639. The captain, officers, and sailors of the ship that transported the governor to Virginia in 1635 sued in Admiralty court for their pay.[9] His government has been described as tyrannical[10] and Harvey himself has been called "an obnoxious ruler"[11] and was generally held to be unpopular.[12] In 1639, Harvey was replaced as governor by Sir Francis Wyatt.[13]

Harvey married Elizabeth Peircey [sic] Stephens (widow to Harvey's rival, Richard Stephens) in 1638, and owned Boldrup Plantation for a time.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Calder Roth, ed. (1999). The Virginia Landmarks Register: Boldrup Plantation Archeological Site. University of Virginia Press.
  2. ^ a b c d e TARTER, BRENT. “Sir John Harvey: Royal Governor of Virginia, 1628–1639.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 125, no. 1, 2017, pp. 2–37. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26322580. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.
  3. ^ "Governor of Virginia". Retrieved 23 September 2007.
  4. ^ "WorldStatesmen.org". Retrieved 23 September 2007.
  5. ^ Tarter, Brent. "Sir John Harvey (ca. 1581 or 1582–by 1650)". Encyclopedia Virginia/Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  6. ^ Brock, Robert A. (1888). Virginia and Virginians. H.H. Hardesty. pp. 20. ISBN 0-87152-110-5.
  7. ^ "Declaration of Sir John Harvey", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 1, no. 4, Virginia Historical Society, 1894, pp. 425–30.
  8. ^ Cooke, John Esten (1883). Virginia: A History of the People. Houghton, Mifflin and Co. pp. 166.
  9. ^ "America and West Indies: December 1636." Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 1, 1574–1660. Ed. W Noel Sainsbury. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1860. 242–243. British History Online. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  10. ^ Grahame, James (1836). The History of the United States of North America: From the Plantation of the British Colonies till their Revolt and Declaration of Independence. Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 57.
  11. ^ Chalmers, George (1845). An Introduction to the History of the Revolt of the American Colonies: Being a Comprehensive View of its Origin, Derived from the State Papers Contained in the Public Offices of Great Britain. J. Munroe & Co. pp. 35-36. ISBN 0-405-03278-1.
  12. ^ Billings, Warren M. (1975). The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century: A Documentary History of Virginia, 1606-1689. UNC Press. pp. 236. ISBN 0-8078-1237-4.
  13. ^ Fiske, John (1900). Old Virginia and Her Neighbours. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. pp. 280.
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