William Berkeley (1605-9 July 1677) was the colonial governor of Virginia from 1642 to 1652, succeeding Francis Wyatt and preceding Richard Bennett, and again from 1660 to 1677, succeeding Samuel Mathews and preceding Herbert Jeffries.
Biography[]
William Berkeley was born in Hanworth Manor, Middlesex, England in 1605, the younger brother of New Jersey co-proprietor John Berkeley. He became a knight under King Charles I of England after fighting against the Scottish Covenanters in the Bishops' Wars of 1639-1640. In 1641, he was sent to replace Francis Wyatt as colonial governor of Virginia, and he set himself up as an example for planters in the colony. Berkeley erected Green Spring House and grew diverse crops such as corn, wheat, barley, rye, tobacco, oranges, lemons, grapes, sugar, and silk, and he offered an asylum to fleeing Cavaliers in the colony. Berkeley was bitterly hostile towards the Quakers and Puritans of the colony, and he appointed his wife's nephew Nathaniel Bacon to Virginian high office; this act of nepotism was a sign of his declining competency. Bacon decided to rebel against Berkeley in 1677 due to disagreements over Native American policies, and Berkeley put down the uprising; however, the war between the natives and the colonists continued. Berkeley decided to return to England, and Herbert Jeffries replaced him as governor; Berkeley died in Mayfair, England.