Background
Yeardley was born c. 1587 and baptized on July 28, 1588 in St. Saviour's Parish, Southwark, England. His father, Ralph, was a member of the Guild of Merchant Taylors. His mother, Rhoda Marston, was of another city family.
adventurer governor planter colonial leader
Yeardley was born c. 1587 and baptized on July 28, 1588 in St. Saviour's Parish, Southwark, England. His father, Ralph, was a member of the Guild of Merchant Taylors. His mother, Rhoda Marston, was of another city family.
As a youth Yeardley entered service in the Netherlands, where he established connections with Sir Thomas Gates which shaped the course of his later life. Sailing for Virginia with Somers and Gates in 1609, he served with credit in a military capacity for several years thereafter. From the departure of Sir Thomas Dale in April 1616, he was acting governor until May 15, 1617. Though it is likely that his rule was characterized by a laxity diminishing to some extent its efficiency, his long experience in the colony and the reaction against the use of martial law which accompanied the reforms of 1618 made him a strong candidate for governor in that year of revived hope and revised plans. Consequently, he was commissioned governor on November 18, 1618. King James added to his rank the distinction of knighthood, and Sir George sailed for Virginia the following January. His instructions, among the most important documents in the history of English colonization, called for the abolition of martial law, directed the summoning of the first representative assembly in an English colony - over which Yeardley had the distinction of presiding - and provided for important changes in the terms and conditions of land tenure. In addition, he was charged to reduce the production of tobacco, to superintend experiments with many new commodities such as silk, wine, and iron, to prepare for the reception of hundreds of new settlers who presently were to follow, and to make all arrangements necessary to the settlement of those private plantations, commonly called hundreds, financed by voluntary associations of adventurers under patents from the company, by which it was hoped to speed the advent of Virginia's prosperity. For the failure of this new program, which was ultimately responsible for the bankruptcy and dissolution of the London Company, Yeardley bears only a small portion of the blame. The many errors of judgment in the leadership of Sir Edwin Sandys, whose followers gained control of the company in the spring of 1619, made the Governor's position well nigh hopeless. Denied time for adequate preparation and forced to receive without previous warning hundreds of ill-equipped colonists, he protested strongly to Sandys and wisely counseled against overhasty action, but with little effect. His own failing was an inability to arouse the colonists to a whole-hearted cooperation with the company's purposes. In this, however, he was only partially at fault. His instructions directed proceedings against several of the more influential planters, and since he was of necessity identified with the Sandys party at a time when the venom of factionalism was penetrating deep into the vitals of the company, it was impossible for him to escape its dire effect in the colony. Sorely tried and beset through three years, he retired at his own request, but without protest from the company's leaders, in 1621. He was then able to devote more attention to his private investment in Southampton Hundred, a plantation of 80, 000 acres in which the leading members of the Sandys party were the chief investors and of which he was governor and captain. He continued as a member of the colonial council, rendered valiant service in the emergency created by the Indian massacre of 1622, and at the time of the proceedings against the company joined with other leading planters in protesting against any action likely to involve a recall of the colonists' liberties. In the unsettled state of affairs which followed the dissolution of the company Yeardley carried to England in 1625 important petitions from the "convention" assembly of that spring presenting the needs of the colonists and requesting the continuation of their general assembly. Although he failed to secure a definite commitment on the latter point, the reaction of the Privy Council was reassuring and indicates that Yeardley made a tactful and able representative of the settlers. The favorable impression made upon the king's officers led to his being commissioned as governor again, on March 14, 1626, a post which he held until his death. He was buried November 13, 1627.
Yeardley married Temperance Flowerdew, daughter of Anthony Flowerdew and Martha Stanley. The couple had three children.
