Fall of the Company

Question 2

By reforms of 1618 there were 3 factions in the Company

Answer 2

Leading merchants building long-term investments
Small investors whose shares were vulnerable
Mid-point harbour for raids on Spanish ships

Question 3

Sir Edwin Sandys

Answer 3

Proponent of free trade
Proponent of diversified economy
Gained control of the Company from Sir Thomas Smith

Question 4

Sandys opposition to piracy

Answer 4

Broke the connection with Warwick

Question 5

Yeardley had not welcomed

Answer 5

Warwick’s Treasurer ship to Virginia

Question 6

1620 Sandys stood for

Answer 6

Re-election of Company treasurer
Did not have crown support
Henry Wriothesley became treasurer

Question 7

1620 following failure of re-election

Answer 7

Sandy’s friends ensured he retained some control over the Company

Question 8

1622: Sandys negotiated

Answer 8

Monopoly of tobacco imports with Lord Treasurer
Sandys faction granted good salaries

Question 9

1622 year

Answer 9

Powhatan attack, war, famine and impending ruin
Accusations of financial impropriety and mismanagement of the Company intensified

Question 10

1623

Answer 10

Tobacco contract dissolved
Sandys secured monopoly through Parliament in 1624

Question 11

John Bargrave

Answer 11

Borrowed money in 1606 to buy stakes in Company
1617 Company allowed him 15 shares for his service
1618 settled his lands

Question 12

Private planters disgruntled

Answer 12

Bargrave in dispute with neighbour John Martin over cattle
Escalated into row over governance of the colony
How to fight colonists in Virginia and Company itself in London?

Question 13

Bargrave and Company dispute

Answer 13

About trade to Virginia and Bermuda
Sandys administration granted him a patent in Virginia in 1620

Question 14

Bargrave’s ideas 6 heads

Answer 14

Need to draw men of good estates in England to plant in Virginia/planters in Virginia to plant estates in England
Separate completely the civil and military functions of governance in Virginia
Use the natural strengths and size of Virginia to spread/grow colony
Employ those who will bring the quickest returns
Manage the returns to engender necessary supply
Do these things with justice in the interests of the king and state

Question 15

Sir Thomas Smith

Answer 15

Printed a book of tyrannical government in Virginia
Along with Alderman Robert Johnson had a monopoly of plantations (able to rise the prices of commodity/barred free trade)

Question 16

Bargrave and partners

Answer 16

Lost £6600

Question 17

Faction and popular government founded on joint stock meant

Answer 17

England could not hold the colony

Question 18

Court 23 April 1623
The unmasked face of our colony (Nathaniel Butler)
Plantation

Answer 18

Plantations on salt-marsh, infectious bogs, creeks and lakes
Plantations positioned on shallow places in the river; had to wade in and out

Question 19

Court 23 April 1623
New arrivals

Answer 19

Arrived in winters
Nowhere to shelter
Therefore died

Question 20

Court 23 April 1623
Commodity

Answer 20

English and native corn at exorbitant prices
Behind on commodities; glass and iron works failing

Question 21

Court 23 April 1623
Colony/homes

Answer 21

Houses had no fortifications
Henrico City and Charles City abandoned

Question 22

Virginia’s laws were not like those in England

Answer 22

Government straying from the law

Question 23

Nathaniel Butler

Answer 23

Governor of Bermuda 1619-1622
Visited Virginia winter 1622
Set up court structure in Bermuda

Question 24

At least 10,000 transported

Answer 24

But 2000 left alive
Desperate state

Question 25

Petition of Alderman Johnson

Answer 25

Likely to lose the colony without the help of a supreme hand
His majesty set up a commission to enquire into the state of the plantations at the time Sir Smith left the government

Question 26

Result of Alderman Johnson’s petition

Answer 26

Privy Council investigated

Question 27

Commission led by Sir William Jones with 6 others

Answer 27

Examined witnesses
Looked at records

Question 28

Commission looked at

Answer 28

Damage from fraud
Infringement of charters
What monies had been raised
How monies were levied
How monies had been spent

Question 29

Commission result

Answer 29

Sandys emerged as the villain
Made no reference to his political views in public or private
Bargrave’s account misunderstood

Question 30

Wesley Frank Craven: “The dissolution of the London Company for Virginia” article

Answer 30

Suggested commission lead towards economic grievances and remedies

Question 31

Assumption of royal government March 1624

Answer 31

Emphasis on fortifying the colony
State of the colony with respect to the war
Hopes for the plantation and how to fulfil them

Question 32

Governor Wyatt, Council and Assembly challenged

Answer 32

The king’s intention to change the Government
Claimed it came from misinformation

Question 33

Royal commissioners did not

Answer 33

Have the power to move the king

Question 34

29 April 1624
James I wrote to HoC

Answer 34

Much faction among them
To prevent this, king reserved the whole cause to his own hearing
Confirmed by members of the House

Question 35

July 1624

Answer 35

Intended reformation of the company for trade but not for government
Avoid faction and popularness of government so displeasing to the king

Question 36

Governor Sir Francis Wyatt

Answer 36

Governor 1621-1624 (under Company)
Requested the crown to stay on as governor
Governor 1624-Sept 1625 (royal colony)
Succeeded by Yeardley
Second term Nov 1639-March 1642