Robert Gorges (1595 – late 1620s) was a captain in the
Royal Navy and briefly Governor-General of
New England from 1623 to 1624. He was the son of Sir
Ferdinando Gorges. After having served in the
Venetian wars, Gorges was given a commission as Governor-General of New England and emigrated to modern
Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1623, building his settlement on the site of the failed
Wessagusset Colony.
At the time of the founding of Gorges' settlement, the English explorer Capt.
Francis West was named admiral of the
Plymouth Council for New England to advise him, along with another English explorer and naval
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
,
Christopher Levett
Capt. Christopher Levett (15 April 1586 – 1630) was an English writer, explorer and naval captain, born at York, England. He explored the coast of New England and secured a grant from the King to settle present-day Portland, Maine, the first ...
, who was attempting a settlement at
Portland, Maine, which also later failed. Levett was named to advise Gorges as the governor of the
Plymouth Colony.
The arrangement was not satisfactory. Apparently frustrated by the pace of settlement and an obdurate attitude of the new colonists towards English interference, Capt. Gorges returned to England in the spring of 1624.
Several of his settlers turned up later at the house Levett had built on what is today
House Island in
Casco Bay,
Maine. Gorges died sometime in the 1620s; his brother John had taken over the Gorges claims by 1629.
References
Bibliography
* Jack Dwyer: ''Dorset Pioneers'':
The History Press: 2009:
* Bradford, William
History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–1647, Vol. I, The Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass., 1912
External links
1595 births
1620s deaths
Royal Navy officers
People of colonial Massachusetts
English emigrants to British North America
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