Career
He served briefly as acting governor of Jamestown, when he was succeeded by Captain John Smith. Scrivener was the son of barrister and city bailiff Ralph Scrivener of Ipswich and of Belstead, in Suffolk, England. His mother was Mary Dowsing Smith.
Scrivener arrived on the first supply ship after the colony had been established.
Apparently he was supplanted as governor by his friend Smith, due to his young age and lack of administrative skills. At the time of his death at the age of 28, Matthew Scrivener was the first secretary for the Colony of Jamestown.