Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (/ˈdɛləwɛər/ ⓘ DEL-ə-wair;[1][2][3] 9 July 1576 – 7 June 1618), was an English nobleman, for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named.

[4] As the eldest son of the 2nd Baron De La Warr, Thomas West received his education at Queen's College, Oxford.

[10] Lord De La Warr was the largest investor in the London Company, which received two charters to settle colonists in the New World, and furnished and sent several vessels to accomplish that aim.

He was appointed governor-for-life and captain-general of the Virginia, to replace the governing council of the colony under the presidency of Captain John Smith.

He left the colony on a ship captained by Argall headed to the West Indies to recover but was blown off course by a storm, ending up in Faial Island, Azores.

[15] He was summoned by the Virginia Company where he explained his health conditions ("flux", cramps, gout, and scurvy) in detail and his diet of oranges and lemons in the Azores helped him recover.

De La Warr remained the nominal governor, and after receiving complaints from the colonists about Argall's tyranny in governing them on his behalf, he set sail for Virginia again in 1618 aboard the Neptune to investigate those charges.