Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr

"Lord Delaware" redirects here. For other uses, see Baron De La Warr.

Lord De La Warr.

Depiction of the arrival of De La Warr at Jamestown

Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr (9 July 1577 – 7 June 1618) was an English-American politician, for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named. "De La Warr" is pronounced "Delaware". (For etymology of the surname itself, see Earl De La Warr§Etymology.)

There have been two creations of Baron De La Warr, and West came from the second. He was the son of Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr, of Wherwell Abbey in Hampshire. He was born at Wherwell, Hampshire, England, and died at sea while travelling from England to the Colony of Virginia.

Biography

West received his education at Queen's College, Oxford. He served in the army under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and, in 1601, was charged with supporting Essex's ill-fated insurrection against Queen Elizabeth, but he was acquitted of those charges. He succeeded his father as Baron De La Warr, in 1602, and became a member of the Privy Council.

After the Powhatans had tea with the colony's Council President, John Ratcliffe, and attacked the colony in the First Anglo-Powhatan War, Lord De La Warr headed the contingent of 150 men who landed in Jamestown, Virginia on June 10, 1610, just in time to persuade the original settlers not to give up and go home to England. As a veteran of destructive English campaigns against the Irish, De La Warr employed those "scorched earth" tactics against the Native Americans: troops raided villages, burned houses, torched cornfields, and stole provisions; these tactics, identical to those practiced by the Powhatan themselves, proved effective. He had been appointed governor-for-life (and captain-general) of Virginia, and he outfitted their three ships and recruited and equipped those men at his own expense. Leaving his deputy Sir Samuel Argall (c. 1580 – c. 1626) in charge, Lord De La Warr returned to England and published a book about Virginia, The Relation of the Right Honourable the Lord De-La-Warre, of the Colonie, Planted in Virginia, in 1611. He remained the nominal governor, and he had received complaints from the Virginia settlers about Argall's tyranny in governing them for him, so Lord De La Warr set sail for Virginia again in 1618, to investigate those charges. He died at sea, en route to Virginia, and it was thought for many years that he had been buried in the Azores or at sea.

In 2006, recent research had concluded that his body was brought to Jamestown for burial. A grave site thought by researchers to contain the remains of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold may instead contain those of Baron De La Warr.

George Percy's daughter married the son of Virginia Governor John West (governor) brother of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr.

Family

On 25 November 1596 De La Warr married Cecily (died c. 1662), the daughter of Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston, Sussex and Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Kempe. They had children:

• Cecily or Cecilia (died February 1638), who married firstly Sir Francis Bindlosse and secondly after 1629 John Byron, 1st Baron Byron. She was buried at Hucknall-Torkard, Nottinghamshire.
• Lucy, who married Sir Robert Byron (d. after 1643), Governor of Liverpool and a Colonel in the service of the Royalist Infantry Forces who fought in the English Civil War.
• Robert, who married Elizabeth Coch.
• Henry (1603–1628), who succeeded to the Barony, married Isabella, daughter of Sir Thomas Edmunds, in March 1625. He died at the age of 24 and was succeed by his son Charles.
• Martha (born 1615), who married William Woodward,. an interpreter to the Indians.

Ancestry

Family of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr

Sir Thomas West, 8th Baron De La Warr               Sir George West                       Eleanor Copley               William West, 1st Baron De La Warr                             Sir Anthony (not Robert) Morton of Lechlade               Elizabeth Morton                       Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr                                   Thomas Strange of Chesterton                       Lady Elizabeth Strange                             Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr                                         Robert Knollys               Sir Robert Knollys of Rotherfield Greys                       Francis Knollys (the elder)                             Thomas Peniston               Lettice Peniston                       Alice Bulstrode               Anne Knollys                                   Thomas Cary (or Carey or Carye) of Chilton Foliat               Sir William Carey                       Margaret Spencer               Catherine Carey                             Sir Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire               Mary Boleyn                       Elizabeth Howard

References

• Endnotes:

External links

• Biography at Encyclopedia Virginia

Peerage of England
Preceded by Thomas West	Baron De La Warr 1602–1618	Succeeded by Henry West
Government offices
Preceded by Thomas Gates	Colonial Governor of Virginia 1610-1611	Succeeded by George Percy