London Company. Photo: author named on the file page, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wpdms_king_james_grants.png)
London Company. Photo: author named on the file page, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wpdms_king_james_grants.png)
George Yeardley was a British soldier, planter, and colonial governor of Virginia. He served as deputy governor in 1616–1617, governor from 1619 to 1621, and governor and captain general from 1626 until his death. He is chiefly remembered for presiding over Virginia's first representative General Assembly at Jamestown in 1619.
Background
Yeardley was born in Southwark, London, and was baptized in St. Saviour's Parish in 1588. His father, Ralph Yeardley, was a member of the Guild of Merchant Taylors, while his mother was Rhoda Marston, connecting the family to London's mercantile society.
As a young man Yeardley served as a soldier in the Netherlands, where he became acquainted with Sir Thomas Gates. That connection helped bring him into the Virginia venture. He sailed for Virginia in 1609 with Gates and other leaders aboard the Sea Venture, which was wrecked in Bermuda before the survivors reached the colony in 1610.
Career
Yeardley entered military service in the Netherlands before joining the Virginia expedition of 1609. After the wreck of the Sea Venture in Bermuda, he reached Virginia in 1610 and served under Sir Thomas Gates as captain and lieutenant of the governor's guard. He also participated in military operations during the Anglo-Powhatan War.
Yeardley became deputy governor of Virginia in 1616 after Sir Thomas Dale left the colony. He returned to England in 1617, where he married Temperance Flowerdew and was appointed governor by the Virginia Company in 1618. King James I knighted him at Newmarket on November 24, 1618, before Yeardley sailed for Virginia aboard the George in January 1619.
Arriving at Jamestown in April 1619, Yeardley implemented reforms known as the Great Charter. These included the end of martial law, expanded private landholding, and the introduction of representative government. He summoned Virginia's first General Assembly, which met from July 30 to August 4, 1619, with the governor, council, and twenty-two elected burgesses. The assembly became the institutional predecessor of the House of Burgesses.
Yeardley also established Flowerdew Hundred, a 1,000-acre plantation on the south side of the James River named for his wife. After leaving the governorship in 1621, he remained a member of the colonial council, developed his plantation interests, and supported the colony during the emergency following the Powhatan attack of 1622.
In 1625 he carried petitions from Virginia settlers to England, requesting protection for their liberties and continuation of the General Assembly after the Virginia Company's dissolution. He was recommissioned governor and captain general in 1626 and returned to Virginia, where he remained in office until his death in Jamestown in November 1627.
Yeardley presided over the first session of Virginia's representative General Assembly, which met at Jamestown from July 30 to August 4, 1619. The assembly included elected burgesses from the colony's settlements and became the institutional predecessor of the House of Burgesses.
Yeardley implemented the Virginia Company's 1618 reforms, including the end of martial-law government, the distribution of land under the headright system, and the development of English-style courts and representative institutions in Virginia.
Yeardley established Flowerdew Hundred, a 1,000-acre plantation on the James River, making it one of the early large private plantations in the Virginia colony.
In 1625 Yeardley represented Virginia settlers in England after the dissolution of the Virginia Company, presenting petitions that supported the continuation of the colony's General Assembly and its established liberties.
Politics
Yeardley's political career developed within the appointed colonial administration of the Virginia Company of London and, after 1624, the royal government of Virginia. He served as deputy governor, governor, and governor and captain general rather than as a representative of a modern political party.
His major constitutional contribution came through implementing the company's 1618 reforms, ending martial-law government, distributing land under the headright system, and summoning the General Assembly that first met at Jamestown on July 30, 1619. After the Virginia Company was dissolved and Virginia became a royal colony, Yeardley carried the settlers' petitions to England and helped secure the continuation of their assembly before returning as royal governor in 1626.
Connections
Yeardley married Temperance Flowerdew in England on October 18, 1618. She was an early settler of Jamestown and belonged to the Flowerdew family, which was prominent in the colony's early history. Their marriage connected Yeardley's household with one of Virginia's established colonial families.
The couple had three children: Elizabeth, Argoll, and Francis Yeardley. Their family was associated with Flowerdew Hundred and with the expanding network of landholding families in seventeenth-century Virginia.
Father:
Ralph Yeardley
A member of the Guild of Merchant Taylors in London and Yeardley's father.
Mother:
Rhoda Marston
Yeardley's mother and the wife of Ralph Yeardley.
Wife:
Temperance Flowerdew
An early Jamestown settler and member of the Flowerdew family. Flowerdew Hundred was named for her.
Daughter:
Elizabeth Yeardley
One of George and Temperance Yeardley's three children.
Son:
Francis Yeardley
One of George and Temperance Yeardley's three children.
Son:
Argoll Yeardley
One of George and Temperance Yeardley's three children.
The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624
A history of Virginia's first seventeen years, covering the administration, landholding, settlement, and representative institutions associated with Yeardley's career.
Sir George Yeardley
A biographical account of Yeardley's service as deputy governor, governor, planter, and organizer of the first General Assembly.
2020
Sir George Yeardley
A historical biography describing Yeardley's military service, governorships, reforms, role in the 1619 assembly, plantation interests, and final administration.
The First Legislative Assembly
A National Park Service account of the July 30, 1619 meeting of the first legislative assembly at Jamestown under Governor Yeardley.
Flowerdew Hundred
A National Park Service history of the 1,000-acre plantation patented to Yeardley in 1619 and named for Temperance Flowerdew.
Governors of Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia's official chronology of Yeardley's terms as deputy governor, governor under the Virginia Company, and governor and captain general after Virginia became a royal colony.
