George Thorpe (Virginia colonist)

George Thorpe (baptized January 1, 1576 – d. March 22, 1622 at Berkeley Hundred), was a noted landowner, Member of Parliament, distiller, educator and major investor in early colonial companies in the Americas.

After his mother's death, his father remarried, to Ann Hill Lawrence, who bore sons William and John who survived to adulthood.

[2] In late 1619 Thorpe sailed for the Virginia colony with Captain John Woodlief on the Margaret (of Bristol), and upon arriving celebrated what some called the first Thanksgiving.

Thorpe returned to Virginia in September 1620 with William Tracy, with whom he would jointly govern the Bermuda Hundred, the pair replacing Capt.

[3][2] In 1620, George Thorpe was made the deputy or superintendent in charge of land set aside by the Virginia Company of London for a college and for a school for Native Americans in the colony.

London Company records from the time state that King James authorized bishops and clergy in England to make a collection of 15,000 pounds "for the college and university of Virginia."

Among early donations to the cause were 1,500 pounds, altar cloths, books, communion silver, a damask tablecloth and "a carpet of crimson velvet.

The inscription says: "On April 3, 1620, The London Company hired George Thorpe to manage the land and tenants for the proposed "university and college" on 11,000 acres on the north bank of the James River above Henrico Town.

In 1992, "Henricus Colledge" [sic] was revived and dedicated to "Research and Continuing Education on the Judeo-Christian principles fundamental to the Planning, Planting and Purposeful Development of American "Liberty Under Law.