Edward Maria Wingfield, President of Jamestown

1550 - Aft 1613  (64 years)

• Name	Edward Maria Wingfield  [1, 2]
  Suffix	President of Jamestown
  Born	1550  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Status	Never Married
  Acceded	3 May 1600  [1]
  Biographical	1606  [2]
  	sailed for Virginia
  	He became interested in establishing a Virginia Colony and headed the list of those granted a charter.
  Immigration	1 Jan 1606/07	Jamestown Colony, Virginia   [1, 2]
  Biographical	13 May 1607	Jamestown Colony, Virginia   [1]
  	was elected President
  Biographical	10 Sep 1607	Jamestown Colony, Virginia   [1, 2, 3]
  	was deposed as President
  	After being elected President by Council, he was removed from office, sent home, imprisoned, charged with improper distribution of supplies, defended himself with "A Discourse on Virginia", and was acquitted.
  Emigration	1608  [1, 2]
  	to England
  Biographical	1609  [2]
  	was named grantee of 2nd charter
  	He was active in the reorganization and granting of 2nd charter, and named a grantee.  He was an investor in the London Company.
  Died	Aft 1613  [1]
  Person ID	I4314	If the Legends Are True...
  Last Modified	30 May 2014

  
  

  Father	Sir Thomas Wingfield,   d. Ipswich, Suffolk, England
  Mother	Margaret Kerrye,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F1527	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		Wingfield → home Jamestown, Virginia
  		Wingfield → Edward Maria

  
  

• Notes

  Wingfield, Edward-Maria (A 1600), Colonist, born about 1560, was the son of Thomas-Maria Wingfield of Stoneley Huntingdonshire, who married a lady named Kerrye of a Yorkshire family. He was grandson of Sir Richard Wingfield (1469-1525) [A.V.] of Kimbolton Castle, Ord Deputy of Calais. Thomas was the son of Sir Richard Wingfield, was godson of Cardinal Pole and Queen Mary, whence the second christian name, Maria, which survived in the family for several generations. Edward served in Ireland and in the low countries, and was one of those to whom the original Patent of Virginia was granted. On 10 April 1606, he alone among those patentees whose names are mentioned in the instrument, sailed with the first part of colonists on New Year's Day 1607 [see Smith, john 1580-1631]. The list of the council was sealed up, to be opened after. Landing, Wingfield was among its members, and on 13 May was elected President. On 27 May, while leading an exploring party, Wingfield was "shot clean through his beard" by an Indian, but escaped unhurt. He soon fell out with his colleagues, and on 10 September 1607 was deposed. Soon after this he was sued by John Smith and another of the party for slander, the case was tried by the council and Wingfield was cast in heavy damages. Although a good soldier and an honourable man, Wingfield seems to have been wholly unfitted for his post. He was evidently self-confident, pompous and puffed up by a sense of his own superior birth and position, unable to co-operate with common men and unfit to rule them. Moreover, as the Spanish government was know to be bitterly hostile to the colony and to be plotting against it, those interested in the undertaking were naturally distrustful of a Roman Catholic. In April 1608 Wingfield returned to England. He appears to have been living, unmarried, at Stoneley in Huntingdonshire in 1613. Source: Hugh Wingfield-Hayes, White Lodge, LaVant Road, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 4QY, England Wingfield Family Society – 2003 (Research):The Avalon Project at Yale Law School has a copy of The First Virginia Charter available online at:  http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/va01.htm

  
  

• Reference

  If the Legends Are True... by J. Craig Canada, "Edward Maria Wingfield, President of Jamestown" (accessed March 8, 2021) | http://www.palmspringsbum.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I4314&tree=Legends.