John Ferrar (2 December 1588 – 28 December 1657) was a London merchant and brother of

Nicholas Ferrar Nicholas Ferrar (22 February 1592 – 4 December 1637) was an English scholar, courtier and businessman, who was ordained a deacon in the Church of England. He lost much of his fortune in the Virginia Company and retreated with his extended fami ...

the Younger.This John Ferrar is not to be confused with John Ferrar the Elder of Croxton and London, Esquire, father of Councillor William Farrar. The son of Nicholas Ferrar the Elder, he was deputy governor and treasurer of the

Virginia Company of London The London Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of London, was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N. History Origins The territor ...

under Edwin Sandys.

Career

Ferrar was born on 2 December 1588, the third son of Mary Ferrar ''née'' Wodenoth and Nicholas Ferrar the Elder, Master of the Skinners' Guild of St Sithes Lane in London. John and his brother Nicholas were second only to the governor in their importance to the company;

Peter Peckard Peter Peckard (c. 1718 – 8 December 1797) was an English Whig, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, Church of England minister and abolitionist.

describes him as Deputy Governor of the company, becoming king's councilor for the plantation. John Ferrar and his brother were influential in the drafting of the "Great Charter" of 1618, which established self-governance in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Virginia Company and Virginian self-governance

Ferrar was elected treasurer—effectively deputy governor—to Sir Edwin Sandys on 23 April 1619 and went on to play a significant role in the

Virginia Company The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day Mai ...

. He and his brother Nicholas were instrumental in the company's management, administration and preservation in the Americas. Charles. M Gayley believed that, "these Men and their fellow patriots were already, by the charters of 1609 nd1618, the founders of representative government in Virginia, and by the 1620 Charter of representative government in New England as well". The Virginia Company held its meetings at the house of Nicholas Ferrar the Elder, father of John and Nicholas, who was Master of the Skinners guild and one of the first shareholders in the Virginia Company of London. Sir Edwin Sandys, John Ferrar and his brother Nicholas made changes that resulted in the growth of the Virginia colony from 1,000 people in 1618 to over 2,200 in 1619. The years 1618-1619 are significant because they are the years of the "Great Charter", in which a set of instructions were given to the newly appointed Governor Sir

George Yeardley Sir George Yeardley (1587 – November 13, 1627) was a planter and colonial governor of the colony of Virginia. He was also among the first slaveowners in Colonial America. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ill-fated Third Supply M ...

. The birth of representative government in the United States can be traced from this “Great Charter” as it provided for self-governance from which the House of Burgesses and a General Council appointed by the Governor were created. On 24 July 1621 the treasurer, council and company of adventurers and planters for the Virginia Company of London passed an Ordinance and Constitution that codified the instructions sent in 1619. Little is known of this John Ferrar other than in the numerous documents of the Virginia Company and the Ferrar papers. "Between 1619 and 1622, factions developed within the company as a result of the administration of

Samuel Argall Sir Samuel Argall (1572 or 1580 – 24 January 1626) was an English adventurer and naval officer. As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English ...

deputy governor of the colony. Argall's exploitation of the lands and the trade of the company for private benefit; led to the formation of an administration under Lord Cavendish, John Ferrar, Nicholas Ferrar, Sir Edwin Sandys, Treasurer and Earl of Southampton .. The Sandys-Southampton party supported the parliamentary opposition in England, and thus the king and Sandys became bitter political rivals." The Parliamentarian faction of the company blamed John Ferrar for the financial problems of the company caused by Edwin Sandys. On 24 May 1624, the company was dissolved, terminating in bankruptcy, and on 15 July, a commission was appointed to replace the Virginia Company of London and establish the first royal colony in America. However the representative government, the House of Burgesses, that resulted from the first and second charters remained in place.

Later life

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 ...

, Ferrar gave refuge at the

Little Gidding community The Little Gidding community was an extended family and religious group based at Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire (now in Cambridgeshire), England, in existence from the middle of the 1620s to the later 1650s. It gained attention in its time becaus ...

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 ...

, pursued by Cromwell's

roundhead Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

s, but soon realised that his house was sufficiently well known to draw the parliamentarians' attentions. Ferrar escorted the king to Coppingford, where the latter spent the night before leaving for Stamford. Ferrar wrote a full-length

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

of his brother Nicholas, which was never, however, published, and only part of which survives in a copy made by the 17th-century antiquarian, Thomas Baker. Ferrer died on 28 December 1657; a brass plaque commemorating him is in St John's Church, Little Gidding.'Parishes: Little Gidding', in ''A History of the County of Huntingdon'': Volume III, ed. W. Page (London, 1936), p.55

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrar, John 1588 births 1657 deaths Merchants from London 17th-century English merchants