Fall of the Company Flashcards
By reforms of 1618 there were 3 factions in the Company
Leading merchants building long-term investments
Small investors whose shares were vulnerable
Mid-point harbour for raids on Spanish ships
Sir Edwin Sandys
Proponent of free trade
Proponent of diversified economy
Gained control of the Company from Sir Thomas Smith
Sandys opposition to piracy
Broke the connection with Warwick
Yeardley had not welcomed
Warwick’s Treasurer ship to Virginia
1620 Sandys stood for
Re-election of Company treasurer
Did not have crown support
Henry Wriothesley became treasurer
1620 following failure of re-election
Sandy’s friends ensured he retained some control over the Company
1622: Sandys negotiated
Monopoly of tobacco imports with Lord Treasurer
Sandys faction granted good salaries
1622 year
Powhatan attack, war, famine and impending ruin
Accusations of financial impropriety and mismanagement of the Company intensified
1623
Tobacco contract dissolved
Sandys secured monopoly through Parliament in 1624
John Bargrave
Borrowed money in 1606 to buy stakes in Company
1617 Company allowed him 15 shares for his service
1618 settled his lands
Private planters disgruntled
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?
Bargrave and Company dispute
About trade to Virginia and Bermuda
Sandys administration granted him a patent in Virginia in 1620
Bargrave’s ideas 6 heads
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
Sir Thomas Smith
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)
Bargrave and partners
Lost £6600
Faction and popular government founded on joint stock meant
England could not hold the colony
Court 23 April 1623
The unmasked face of our colony (Nathaniel Butler)
Plantation
Plantations on salt-marsh, infectious bogs, creeks and lakes
Plantations positioned on shallow places in the river; had to wade in and out
Court 23 April 1623
New arrivals
Arrived in winters
Nowhere to shelter
Therefore died
Court 23 April 1623
Commodity
English and native corn at exorbitant prices
Behind on commodities; glass and iron works failing
Court 23 April 1623
Colony/homes
Houses had no fortifications
Henrico City and Charles City abandoned
Virginia’s laws were not like those in England
Government straying from the law
Nathaniel Butler
Governor of Bermuda 1619-1622
Visited Virginia winter 1622
Set up court structure in Bermuda
At least 10,000 transported
But 2000 left alive
Desperate state
Petition of Alderman Johnson
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
Result of Alderman Johnson’s petition
Privy Council investigated
Commission led by Sir William Jones with 6 others
Examined witnesses
Looked at records
Commission looked at
Damage from fraud
Infringement of charters
What monies had been raised
How monies were levied
How monies had been spent
Commission result
Sandys emerged as the villain
Made no reference to his political views in public or private
Bargrave’s account misunderstood
Wesley Frank Craven: “The dissolution of the London Company for Virginia” article
Suggested commission lead towards economic grievances and remedies
Assumption of royal government March 1624
Emphasis on fortifying the colony
State of the colony with respect to the war
Hopes for the plantation and how to fulfil them
Governor Wyatt, Council and Assembly challenged
The king’s intention to change the Government
Claimed it came from misinformation
Royal commissioners did not
Have the power to move the king
29 April 1624
James I wrote to HoC
Much faction among them
To prevent this, king reserved the whole cause to his own hearing
Confirmed by members of the House
July 1624
Intended reformation of the company for trade but not for government
Avoid faction and popularness of government so displeasing to the king
Governor Sir Francis Wyatt
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
