Early Years
Thomas West was born on July 9, 1576, the son of Thomas West, second, or eleventh, baron De La Warr, and Anne Knollys West, of Wherwell, Hampshire, England, where mostly likely he was born and christened. The barony De La Warr (pronounced "de la ware") was created first in 1299 and then again, due to a legal dispute, in 1570. As such, the baron's number depends on a willingness to recognize the second creation, which started its count again at one.
He soldiered in the Low Countries and campaigned in Ireland with Robert Devereaux, second earl of Essex. A victory against Phelim MacFeagh O'Byrne near Arklow, County Wicklow, on the east coast of Ireland, on June 30, 1599, led to West's knighthood a couple of weeks later. Suspected of complicity in Essex's hapless revolt against Queen Elizabeth I, West was imprisoned briefly in 1601, but the earl absolved him of any guilt. With the cloud of suspicion lifted, West became a privy councillor to the queen and to her successor, James I. When West's father died in March 1602, he succeeded to the barony and thereafter signed himself Tho: Lawarre.
Virginia
In November 1606 the king appointed De La Warr to the royal council that oversaw the Virginia Company of London. De La Warr invested £500 in the company, by far the largest investment of any company officer during the following decade. During the critical first years of the Virginia colony, De La Warr monitored from London the deteriorating situation in the colony and worked toward revamping its governance. He may have assisted in drafting the Charter of 1609, which abolished the royal council and authorized the company to appoint a resident governor with the power to name his subordinate officers. Noble rank, stature at court, military experience, and his own substantial personal investment in the company combined to make De La Warr the obvious choice as Virginia's governor, and on February 28, 1610, the company commissioned him governor and captain-general for life.
De La Warr reorganized the colony along the military lines that the company had envisioned. To that end, he implemented harsh civil regulations akin to what the English had imposed on their troops in the Netherlands and Ireland. Sir Thomas Dale subsequently added military regulations, and the combined orders were published in London under the title For The Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, &c. (1612). The military regime stabilized Virginia, though it gave rise to choruses of complaints from the settlers and did little to ensure the colony's profitability.
Three of De La Warr's brothers also took active parts in the colonization of Virginia. Francis West sailed to Virginia with Christopher Newport in 1608. He served on the governor's Council from 1609 until his death and as governor from November 1627 through February 1629. Nathaniel West and John West (1590–1659) may have gone to Virginia together in 1618. The latter established himself as a prominent military officer, a member of the Council, and acting governor from 1635 to 1637.
One of the early settlements on the James River, West and Shirley Hundred, probably acquired its name from the family names of the governor and his wife. Samuel Argall named a cape and a bay for De La Warr during voyages along the mid-Atlantic coast in 1610 and 1612. The river that empties into that bay and one of the principal Indian tribes that dwelled in its vicinity also acquired his name in English-language discourse, as did the American state, all spelled as one word, Delaware.
Later Years
Early in 1618 De La Warr boarded the Neptune to return to Virginia and resume his work as governor, but he died en route on July 7, 1618. John Pory reported in the autumn that De La Warr had "dyed in Canada," suggesting that the governor died near the coast north of the charter boundaries of Virginia, probably off Nova Scotia or perhaps Newfoundland. One of De La Warr's servants later testified that the governor's body was carried to Virginia and buried there.
Time Line
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July 9, 1576 - Thomas West, the future baron De La Warr, is born at Wherwell, Hampshire. He is the son of Thomas West, eleventh baron De La Warr, and his wife, Anne Knollys.
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March 9, 1592 - Thomas West matriculates at Queen's College, Oxford. He will leave the university without a degree.
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1595 - Thomas West travels to Italy with a son of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, West's godfather.
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November 25, 1596 - Thomas West marries Cecilia Shirley, the youngest daughter of his godfather, Sir Thomas Shirley, at Saint-Dunstan-in-the-West, a church in London.
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October 1597–February 1598 - Thomas West serves in the House of Commons representing Lymington.
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1598 - Thomas West possibly serves with English forces fighting the Spanish in the Netherlands.
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June 30, 1599 - Thomas West distinguishes himself at battle near Arklow, County Wicklow, during a campaign against Irish rebels, which is led by his first cousin, Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex.
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July 12, 1599 - Thomas West is knighted while in Ireland fighting in a campaign against Irish rebels, which is led by his first cousin, Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex.
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February 1601 - Implicated in an uprising against Queen Elizabeth led by his first cousin, Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, Thomas West is briefly confined at the Wood Street Counter, a debtors' prison in London.
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February 19, 1601 - Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, imprisoned for leading an uprising against Queen Elizabeth, apologizes to Thomas West's father, Essex's uncle, for causing his cousin to be arrested. West "was unacquainted with the whole matter," Essex says.
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March 24, 1602 - After his father's death, Thomas West inherits the barony De La Warr, becoming third, or the twelfth, baron De La Warr. The number depends on a willingness to recognize the barony's second creation, in 1572. West also becomes a member of Queen Elizabeth's Privy Council.
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October 3, 1603 - Henry West is born to Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, and Cecilia Shirley West.
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August 30, 1605 - Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, is created an MA of Oxford University.
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1609 - Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, joins the Virginia Company of London and serves on its council.
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May 23, 1609 - The Crown approves a second royal charter for the Virginia Company of London. It replaces the royal council with private corporate control, extends the colony's boundaries to the Pacific Ocean, and installs a governor, Sir Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, to run operations in Virginia.
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February 28, 1610 - Assuming that Sir Thomas Gates is dead, the Virginia Company of London commissions Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, governor and captain-general for life. He departs for America a few weeks later.
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March 1610 - Having returned to England from Virginia the previous autumn, Samuel Argall sets sail for the colony again, this time transporting Thomas West, baron De La Warr, the new governor.
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April 1, 1610 - Lawrence Bohun sails for Virginia as personal physician to the new governor, Thomas West, baron De La Warr.
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June–July 1610 - Within a month of arriving at Jamestown, Lawrence Bohun treats the fever of Governor Thomas West, baron De La Warr, with bloodletting, which De La Warr believes saves his life.
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June 8, 1610 - Sailing up the James River toward the Chesapeake Bay and then Newfoundland, Jamestown colonists encounter a ship bearing the new governor, Thomas West, baron De La Warr, and a year's worth of supplies. The colonists return to Jamestown that evening.
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June 10, 1610 - The Virginia colony's new governor, Sir Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, arrives at Jamestown and hears a sermon delivered by Reverend Richard Bucke.
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June 12, 1610 - In Jamestown, Governor Thomas West, baron De La Warr, confirms Gates's orders and issues additional orders of his own. The orders will be published in 1612 as For the Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, &c.
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November 1610 - Governor Sir Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, sends an expedition west toward the falls of the James River. After an initial defeat at the hands of the Appamattuck's weroansqua, Opossunoquonuske, the colonists destroy the Appamattuck village.
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March 28, 1611 - Governor Thomas West, baron De La Warr, ill with malaria or scurvy, leaves Virginia on a ship piloted by Samuel Argall and bound for Nevis in the West Indies.
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June 25, 1611 - Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, addresses a letter to his superiors at the Virginia Company of London. He had left Virginia with plans to recuperate from illness in Bermuda, but a storm forced him west, eventually all the way to England.
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Autumn 1616 - Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, and his wife, Cecilia Shirley West, introduce John Rolfe and his wife, Pocahontas, into English society. The visitors from Virginia are in London to raise funds for the Virginia Company of London.
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March 16, 1618 - John Chamberlain of London reports in a letter that Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, governor and captain-general for life of Virginia, has again sailed for the colony.
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July 7, 1618 - Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, governor and captain-general for life of Virginia, dies aboard the ship Neptune on a return voyage to the colony. It is possible that his body is buried at Jamestown.
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October 14, 1618 - By this date, news has reached England of the death of Governor Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr. His son Henry inherits the barony De La Warr.
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1619–1623 - Cecilia Shirley West, the widow of Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, disposes of her husband's sixty-five shares of land, including his investment in West and Shirley Plantation.
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September 20, 1619 - The Virginia Company of London grants a thirty-one-year pension of £500 per year to Cecilia Shirley West, the widow of Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr.
References
Further Reading
External Links
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Billings, W. M., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr (1576–1618). (2013, October 27). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/West_Thomas_twelfth_baron_De_La_Warr_1577-1618.
- MLA Citation:
Billings, Warren M. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr (1576–1618)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, 27 Oct. 2013. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: May 21, 2013 | Last modified: October 27, 2013