George Nedham (Needham) was a supporter of the Royalist cause 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 ...
who, following their defeat at the
Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...
in 1651, emigrated to the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
.
First he went to
Antigua
Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
, and later migrated to
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
. Here he married the daughter of Governor
Thomas Modyford
Colonel Sir Thomas Modyford, 1st Baronet (c. 1620 – 1 September 1679) was a planter of Barbados and Governor of Jamaica from 1664 to 1671.
Early life
Modyford was the son of a mayor of Exeter with family connections to the Duke of Albemar ...
and became a prominent planter in the colony.
In 1677 he was returned, alongside
Fulke Rose
Fulke Rose (10 April 1644 – c. March 1694) was a British physician and early colonist of Jamaica. He was one of the principal buyers in Jamaica of slaves taken by the Royal African Company and had extensive land-holdings on the island. He ...
, as a representative of
Saint Thomas in the Vale Parish in the
House of Assembly of Jamaica
The House of Assembly was the legislature of the British colony of Jamaica. It held its first meeting on 20 January 1664 at Spanish Town. Cundall, Frank. (1915''Historic Jamaica''.London: Institute of Jamaica. p. 15. As a result of the Morant Ba ...
.
[America and West Indies: September 1677]
British History Online
Family
In 1660 he married his first wife, Mary Bryan, daughter of William Bryan. Together they had seven sons of whom three survived:
* Robert Needham (1672-1738)
* William Needham (1675-1746)
* Edward Winter Needham (1683-1722), married Martha Lewis in 1708
They also had three daughters:
* Henrietta
* Mary
* Elizabeth Grace, who married John Ellis jr. with whom she had four children.
References
{{reflist
Members of the House of Assembly of Jamaica