Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

David Kirke ( – 1654), also spelt David Ker, was an

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

and colonial governor. He is best known for his successful capture of

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

in 1629 during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

and his subsequent governorship of lands in Newfoundland. A favourite of

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

, Kirke's downfall came with that of the Crown during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

and it is believed he died in prison.

Family

Kirke was a son of Gervase (Jarvis) Kirke, a rich merchant of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, and Elizabeth Goudon, a French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

woman. He was raised in

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

, in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. Also David was the eldest of five sons, followed by Lewis, Thomas, John and James. While still in Engeland, David married to

Sara Kirke Lady Sara Kirke (died 1680's) was the wife of Sir David Kirke (c. 1597-1654), the governor of Newfoundland between 1638 and 1651. She is considered to be North America's "first and foremost entrepreneur". History Lady Sara Kirke arrived at the Pr ...

. They left for Newfoundland in 1638 and had a number of children, including their sons George, David the Younger, and Phillip.

Quebec campaign

Champlain Leaving Quebec, a Prisoner on Kirk’s Ship, 1629

An English fleet, consisting of six warships and three pinnaces, left

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

in March 1629 with Jacques Michel, a deserter from Champlain, to act as pilot on the St. Lawrence River. Champlain sent a party from Quebec, whose residents were on the point of starvation, to meet an expected relief fleet under . Unknown to Champlain, Caën was also bringing word that in April peace had been declared in Europe by the

Treaty of Susa The Treaty of Susa (also sometimes spelled Suza) refers to two separate peace treaties signed in 1629 at Susa in the Duchy of Savoy (now in the Italian Piedmont near the French border), recently occupied by France during the Thirty Years' War. ...

. Although Champlain's party met Caën in the Gulf, they were captured by the English on their way upriver to Quebec. Kirke, now aware of the desperate conditions facing the Quebecers, sent his brothers Lewis and Thomas to demand a French surrender. Having no alternative, Champlain surrendered on 19 July 1629. However, Champlain argued that the seizure of Quebec by the Kirkes was unlawful, as the war had already ended; and he worked to have the area returned to France. As part of the ongoing negotiations of their exit from the

Anglo-French War The Anglo-French Wars were a series of conflicts between England (and after 1707, Britain) and France, including: Middle Ages High Middle Ages * Anglo-French War (1109–1113) – first conflict between the Capetian Dynasty and the House of Norma ...

, in 1632

agreed to return the lands in exchange for

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

paying his wife's

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

. These terms were signed into law with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1632. The lands in Quebec and

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17t ...

were returned to the French

Company of One Hundred Associates The Company of One Hundred Associates (French: formally the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, or colloquially the Compagnie des Cent-Associés or Compagnie du Canada), or Company of New France, was a French trading and colonization company cha ...

. As a consolation, Kirke was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed in 1633.

Governor of Newfoundland

Kirke is believed to have visited Ferryland, as he published a report on the island of Newfoundland in 1635. He was impressed by the island's fisheries, and in 1637 he asked King Charles for a land grant. In November 1637 Kirke and his partners were granted a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

for co-proprietorship of the entire island. A portion of Newfoundland, the Avalon Peninsula, had already been granted to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, but he was accused of abandoning his colony before his death in 1632, and the lands were transferred to Kirke. The charter of this new grant had stipulations designed to reduce conflict with migratory fishermen; there was to be no settlement within six miles of the shore, fishing rooms were not to be occupied before the arrival of the summer fishing crews, and a five per cent tax was to be collected on all fish products taken by foreigners. Kirke was installed as the

Proprietary Governor A proprietary colony was a type of English colony mostly in North America and in the Caribbean in the 17th century. In the British Empire, all land belonged to the monarch, and it was his/her prerogative to divide. Therefore, all colonial propert ...

and arrived in 1638 with one hundred colonists. The original governorship of the Avalon Peninsula had passed to Baltimore's son, Cecilius Calvert, who had installed William Hill as governor. Kirke seized the governor's mansion, then occupied by Hill. In January 1638, the king also granted Kirke a coat of arms, "For the greater honour and splendour of that Countrey and the people therein inhabiting … to be used in all such cases as Armes are wont to be by other nations and Countries." In 1639, Kirke renamed the colony the Pool Plantation. Over the next several years, he built forts at

Ferryland Ferryland is a town in Newfoundland and Labrador on the Avalon Peninsula. According to the 2021 Statistics Canada census, its population is 371. Seventeenth century settlement Ferryland was originally established as a station for migratory fis ...

, St. John’s, and Bay de Verde. He collected tolls from all fishing vessels. Kirke was granted the rights to "the sole trade of the Newfoundland, the Fishing excepted." The latter words resulted in considerable trouble. At the time the

Grand Banks of Newfoundland The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...

were being fished by many European nations, and Kirke's 5% tax gave an advantage to the English fishermen in the area. A number of

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...

merchants thrived on the fish trade. Represented in London by Kirke, Barkeley, and Company, with several of his brothers in control, Kirke used his land rights to support the fish trade, in conflict with the terms of his charter. By 1638, strong links between

and

Dartmouth, Devon Dartmouth () is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes. It lies within the ...

, had already been established. Kirke brought the entire trade network south of St. John's under the control of a growing family commercial empire. These actions aroused strong animosity from the West Country merchants. The planters and migratory fishermen agreed that Kirke was reserving the best fishing rooms for himself and his friends. In addition, he was accused of opening taverns, which were disruptive to the settlers' work. But before these charges could be investigated, in 1642 the

broke out between the king and parliament.

Arrest and death

The Civil War ended in 1651, and the Kirkes, as royalists, were on the losing side. Although the merchants' complaints were put aside during the war, they were revived at the end of it, and the Kirkes were no longer protected by the crown. In 1651 a team of six commissioners, led by Maryland merchant

John Treworgie John Treworgie (born ca. 1618, date of death unknown) was the last Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland. Treworgie had worked as an agent at a Kittery, Maine trading post from 1635 to 1650. In 1651 he was named as one of a party of six sent to Ne ...

, was sent to Ferryland to seize Kirke and bring him to England to stand trial. His lands were acquired by the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...

. Found not guilty, in 1653 Kirke re-purchased the title to his lands. His wife, Dame Sara Kirke, returned to Newfoundland to oversee his business and reclaim his property, but Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, brought new charges against Kirke over the title of the lands around Ferryland. Kirke is thought to have died in the original Southwark jail,

The Clink The Clink was a prison in Southwark, England, which operated from the 12th century until 1780. The prison served the Liberty of the Clink, a local manor area owned by the Bishop of Winchester rather than by the reigning monarch. As the Libe ...

, as early as January 1654, while awaiting trial. Treworgie was granted the governorship of Newfoundland in 1653; he was already in Ferryland, apparently never having left after 1651. The next year, he and two other commissioners were arrested by James Kirke for holding possession of lands rightfully owned by the Kirkes, and an unpaid debt of £1,100. Treworgie maintained that Kirke's possessions had been returned to his wife, but was found guilty in a first trial. A personal plea to

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

resulted in a second trial. The outcome is lost, but it appears that Treworgie was found not guilty, as he continued to serve as governor until 1660. In 1660, Treworgie returned to England to ask for another term as governor and for six year's salary he claimed he was owed. He never returned to Newfoundland.

Aftermath

After David's death, Lady

and her sons took control over the Pool Plantation for the next decades. The restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660 re-opened the debate between the Kirkes and the Calverts over the ownership of the Avalon Peninsula. This time, Cecil Calvert was successful in gaining the

royal patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

on Avalon, but he never took up residence. David Kirke's brother, now Sir Lewis Kirke, demanded compensation for improvements made at Ferryland by the Kirkes. Lady Kirke petitioned Charles II to make Lewis's nephew George Kirke the governor of Newfoundland, an arrangement suggested by the Newfoundlanders, but the king demurred from appointing a resident governor. The

grant of arms A grant of arms or a governmental issuance of arms are actions, by a lawful authority such as an officer of arms or State Herald, conferring on a person and his or her descendants the right to bear a particular coat of arms or armorial bearings. ...

to Kirke was lost during the Civil War. During the aftermath of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the

Imperial War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

in Europe asked what arms should mark the graves of soldiers from Newfoundland. During the subsequent investigations, the Kirke arms were found in the

College of Heralds The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovere ...

. In 1928, they were adopted as the official

coat of arms of Newfoundland The coat of arms of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador was originally granted by Garter King of Arms, during the reign of King Charles I of England, on 1 January 1637/8. History On November 13, 1637, "all that whole Continent Island o ...

and continue to be used today by the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. , width="25%" align="center", Preceded by:
William Hill , width="25%" align="center",

Governor of Newfoundland The lieutenant governor of Newfoundland and Labrador () is the viceregal representative in Newfoundland and Labrador of the , who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada, as ...

1638–1651 , width="25%" align="center", Followed by:

References

External link

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirke, David 1590s births 1654 deaths English people who died in prison custody Governors of Newfoundland Colony Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)