William Colston (
fl. 1610–1612) was an Englishman and one of the first settlers in the colony at
Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador
Cuper's Cove, on the southwest shore of Conception Bay on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula was an early English settlement in the New World, and the third one after Harbour Grace, Newfoundland (1583) and Jamestown, Virginia (1607) to endure for ...
, Canada.
He was almost certainly a native of
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, England, and travelled to Newfoundland in 1610 as one of the first settlers in a scheme for the plantation of Newfoundland. They settled at Cuper's Cove and the colony was governed by
John Guy, another Bristol man. Some authorities claim that Colston was Guy's brother-in-law, though this is uncertain.
John Guy appointed Colston as deputy governor during his absence from the colony between August 1611 and June 1612,
and Colston kept the required journal of weather and what the settlers were doing throughout the winter,
though this journal has not survived.
After Guy returned from England, with 16 women settlers,
cattle and a chaplain, he is reported to have sent Colston home to England for a holiday.
Back in Bristol, Colston told
John Slany John Slany, Slaney or Slanie, etc. (died 1632),Will of John Slany, Merchant Taylor of London (P.C.C. 1632, Audley quire). was an English merchant and ship builder of Shropshire origins who became Master of the Merchant Taylor's Company in 1620, and ...
, treasurer of the
London and Bristol Company
The London and Bristol Company came about in the early 17th century when English merchants had begun to express an interest in the Newfoundland fishery. Financed by a syndicate of investors John Guy, himself a Bristol merchant, visited Newfoundl ...
who sponsored the Cuper's Cove colony, of the vast riches to be had in Newfoundland.
Other authorities claim that he remained longer in Cuper's Cove, and that Colston recorded the first birth of an English child in the settlement on 27 March 1613, when Nicholas Guy and his wife had a baby boy.
Prowse
claims that Guy abandoned Newfoundland in 1613, and left Colston in charge of the colony.
References
External links
The Cupids Colony and John Guy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colston, William
People from Newfoundland (island)
Newfoundland Colony people
People from Bristol
English emigrants to pre-Confederation Newfoundland