Colonisation of North America & the Virginia Company of London

Author: Maurice Abbot (1565-1642)

Year: c1625

Publisher: Self Written

Place: London

Description:

Manuscript on paper with document inscribed on one side (11 1/2" x 7 1/2"). Inscription in the hand of Sir Maurice Abbott on verso of document copy of a charter, granted in 1268 by Sir Henry Longchamp, to Philip Basset, (justiciar to Henry III and royalist nobleman, d. 1271) and Ela his wife the manor of Warneburng [South Warnborough, Hampshire], witnesses: Walter de Irton, Robert Walerand, (administrator at the court of Henry III, d. 1273).

Sir Maurice Abbot (1565-1642) was an English merchant, Governor of the East India Company (1624-1638), and a politician who sat in the House of Commons (1621 - 1626). He was Lord Mayor of London in 1638. Abbot was one of the original directors of the East India Company, which was incorporated by royal charter in 1600, was among the earliest to invest large sums in its "stock", was a member of its special committee of direction from 1607 onwards, and was throughout his life foremost in defending its interests against its enemies at home and abroad.

In 1608 he was appointed a representative of the company for the audit of the accounts of expenses incurred jointly with the Muscovy Company in "setting forth John Kingston for the discovery of the north-west passage". He became a member of the committee of the Virginia Company in 1610, and its auditor from 1619 to 1620. In 1614, Abbot was one of the original Shareholders of the Somers Isles Company, which was formed by the shareholders of the Virginia Company to separately administer The Somers Isles (or Bermuda) (which the Virginia Company had been in de facto possession of since the 1612 wreck of the Sea Venture, and which its royal charter had been extended to include in 1612). Abbott's Bay in Pembroke, Bermuda, was named after him (but was renamed Clarence Cove in 1822, when the surrounding Admiralty House property, 'til then known as St. John's Hill, was renamed Clarence Hill in commemoration of Admiral of the Fleet, Prince William, the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV)). Abbott's Cliff in Hamilton Parish, Bermuda, may also be named for him.

Condition: Edge wer with some chips with folds to paper else very good.