List of Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses
Encyclopedia
The Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses was the presiding officer of the House of Burgesses
, the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly
during the period in which Virginia
was a colony of Great Britain
.
The General Assembly itself was first organized in 1619, when the colony was owned and administered by the London Company
. Twenty-two burgesses were elected to that Assembly, two each from eleven designated settlement areas in the colony. The Assembly formed a unicameral legislature made up of the burgesses and the appointed members of the Governor's Council, presided over by the Governor, George Yeardley
. Yeardley designated his secretary, John Pory
, a council member, as Speaker of the General Assembly. Pory, however, appears to have acted only as secretary of the Assembly.
The General (or Grand) Assembly met seventeen more times from that first session through 1642. Its legal standing was put in doubt when the London Company was dissolved in May 1624 and Virginia came under the direct administration of the Crown.
A crisis developed in the spring of 1635 when an unpopular governor, Sir John Harvey
, was arrested and deported to England by his own Council. This led to the February 1639 reappointment of former Governor Sir Francis Wyatt
. Wyatt's instructions acknowledged the legal status of the General Assembly and of land titles granted by the London Company, ending 15 years of legal limbo.
In late 1642 Sir William Berkeley was appointed Governor. He reorganized the Assembly into two houses along the lines of the English Parliament. The new lower house, the House of Burgesses, was to provide a counterweight to the Council-led group that had deposed Harvey. However, they maneuvered to elect one of their own, Thomas Stegg
, as the first Speaker of the new House when it convened in March 1643.
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...
, the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, established on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members,...
during the period in which Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
was a colony of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
.
The General Assembly itself was first organized in 1619, when the colony was owned and administered by the London Company
London Company
The London Company was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.The territory granted to the London Company included the coast of North America from the 34th parallel ...
. Twenty-two burgesses were elected to that Assembly, two each from eleven designated settlement areas in the colony. The Assembly formed a unicameral legislature made up of the burgesses and the appointed members of the Governor's Council, presided over by the Governor, George Yeardley
George Yeardley
Sir George Yeardley was a plantation owner and three time colonial Governor of the British Colony of Virginia. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ill-fated Third Supply Mission, whose flagship, the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked on Bermuda for 10 months in 1609-10, he is best remembered...
. Yeardley designated his secretary, John Pory
John Pory
John Pory was an English government administrator, traveller, and author of the Jacobean and Caroline eras; he is widely considered to have been the first news correspondent in English-language journalism.-Life and work:...
, a council member, as Speaker of the General Assembly. Pory, however, appears to have acted only as secretary of the Assembly.
The General (or Grand) Assembly met seventeen more times from that first session through 1642. Its legal standing was put in doubt when the London Company was dissolved in May 1624 and Virginia came under the direct administration of the Crown.
A crisis developed in the spring of 1635 when an unpopular governor, Sir John Harvey
John Harvey (Virginia)
Sir John Harvey was a Crown Governor of Virginia. He was elected to the position on 26 March 1628. In 1635 he was suspended and impeached by the House of Burgesses , and he returned to England. He was restored to his post by the King in 1636 and returned to Virginia the following year...
, was arrested and deported to England by his own Council. This led to the February 1639 reappointment of former Governor Sir Francis Wyatt
Francis Wyatt
Sir Francis Wyatt was the first English royal governor of Virginia. He sailed for America on August 1, 1621 on board the George. He became governor shortly after his arrival in October, taking with him the first written constitution for an English colony...
. Wyatt's instructions acknowledged the legal status of the General Assembly and of land titles granted by the London Company, ending 15 years of legal limbo.
In late 1642 Sir William Berkeley was appointed Governor. He reorganized the Assembly into two houses along the lines of the English Parliament. The new lower house, the House of Burgesses, was to provide a counterweight to the Council-led group that had deposed Harvey. However, they maneuvered to elect one of their own, Thomas Stegg
Thomas Stegg
Thomas Stegg was a Virginia merchant and politician. He was the first Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses in the 1643 session, when the Burgesses first met as a separate lower house of the Virginia General Assembly.-References:...
, as the first Speaker of the new House when it convened in March 1643.
| Order | Name | County or City | Born | Term began | Term ended | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Charles City County Charles City County, Virginia As of the census of 2000, there were 6,926 people, 2,670 households, and 1,975 families residing in the county. The population density was 38 people per square mile . There were 2,895 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile... |
unknown | 1643 | 1643 | 1652 | |
| 2nd | Charles City County | unknown | 1644 | 1645 | 1663 (ca.) | |
| 3rd | Northampton County Northampton County, Virginia As of the census of 2010, there were 12,389 people, 5,321 households, and 3,543 families residing in the county. The population density was 63 people per square mile . There were 6,547 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile... |
1617 (ca.) | 1645 | 1646 | 1671 | |
| 4th | James City County James City County, Virginia James City County is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Its population was 67,009 , and it is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the... |
unknown | 1646 | 1646 | 1647 (ca.) | |
| 5th | Warwick County Warwick County, Virginia Warwick County was a county in Southeast Virginia that was created from Warwick River Shire, one of eight created in the Virginia Colony in 1634. It became the City of Warwick on July 16, 1952... |
unknown | 1647 | 1649 | 1652 | |
| 1650 | 1651 | |||||
| 6th | Nansemond County Nansemond County, Virginia Nansemond County is an extinct county which was located in Virginia Colony and the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, from 1646 until 1972... |
1615 | 1652 | 1652 | 1655 (ca.) | |
| 7th | Nansemond County | unknown | 1652 | 1652 | 1681 (ca.) | |
| 8th | James City County | unknown | 1653 | 1653 | 1653 | |
| 9th | Warwick County | unknown | 1653 | 1653 | 1655 | |
| 2nd | Charles City County | unknown | 1654 | 1655 | 1663 (ca.) | |
| 10th | James City County | bef. 1628 | 1656 | 1656 | 1680/81 | |
| 1657 | 1657 | |||||
| 11th | Warwick County | 1620 | 1658 | 1658 | 1663 | |
| 2nd | Charles City County | unknown | 1659 | 1659 | 1663 (ca.) | |
| 12th | Charles City County | 1629 | 1660 | 1660 | 1671/72 | |
| 13th | James City County | unknown | 1661 | 1661 | 1661 | |
| 14th | Charles City County | 1622 | 1662 | 1674 | 1675 | |
| 1675 | 1675 | |||||
| 15th | Gloucester County Gloucester County, Virginia Gloucester County is within the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area in the USA. Formed in 1651 in the Virginia Colony, the county was named for Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, third son of King Charles I of Great Britain. Located in the Middle Peninsula region, it... |
1642/43 | 1676 | 1676 | 1681 | |
| 16th | Nansemond County | unknown | 1676 | 1676 | 1677/78 | |
| 15th | Gloucester County | 1642/43 | 1677 | 1677 | 1681 | |
| 17th | Rappahannock County Rappahannock County, Virginia As of the census of 2010, there were 7,373 people, 2,788 households, and 2,004 families residing in the county. The population density was 26 people per square mile . There were 3,303 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile... |
unknown | 1677 | 1677 | 1679 | |
| 1678 | 1678 | |||||
| 18th | Gloucester County | unknown | 1679 | 1679 | 1682 | |
| 19th | James City County | 1630 | 1680 | 1682 | 1690 | |
| 1683 | 1683 | |||||
| 20th | Charles City County | 1637 | 1684 | 1684 | 1700 | |
| 21st | Northampton County | unknown | 1685 | 1685 | 1686 | |
| 22nd | Surry County Surry County, Virginia As of the census of 2010, there were 7,058 people, 2,619 households, and 1,917 families residing in the county. The population density was 24 people per square mile . There were 3,294 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile... |
unknown | 1686 | 1688 | 1710 | |
| 1689 | 1690 | |||||
| 23rd | Nansemond County | unknown | 1691 | 1693 | 1694 | |
| 1694 | 1695 | |||||
| 24th | James City County | 1637/38 | 1695 | 1696 | 1716 (ca.) | |
| 25th | Lancaster County Lancaster County, Virginia As of the census of 2000, there were 11,567 people, 5,004 households, and 3,412 families residing in the county. The population density was 87 people per square mile . There were 6,498 housing units at an average density of 49 per square mile... |
1662/63 | 1696 | 1697 | 1732 | |
| 26th | Henrico County Henrico County, Virginia Henrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area... |
1650 | 1698 | 1698 | 1711 | |
| 25th | Lancaster County | 1662/63 | 1699 | 1699 | 1732 | |
| 27th | Gloucester County | 1668 (ca.) | 1700 | 1705 | 1728 | |
| 28th | Charles City County | 1673 | 1705 | 1706 | 1710 | |
| 1707 | 1709 | |||||
| 27th | Gloucester County | 1668 (ca.) | 1710 | 1714 | 1728 | |
| 29th | Westmoreland County Westmoreland County, Virginia As of the census of 2000, there were 16,718 people, 6,846 households, and 4,689 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 9,286 housing units at an average density of... |
1679 | 1715 | 1718 | 1724 | |
| 1719 | 1719 | |||||
| 30th | York County York County, Virginia York County is a county located on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Situated on the York River and many tributaries, the county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown... 1720-22 Williamsburg Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city... 1723-26 York County 1728-34 |
1666 (ca.) | 1720 | 1734 | 1734 | |
| 31st | Williamsburg | 1693 (ca.) | 1734 | 1736 | 1737 | |
| 1737 | 1737 | |||||
| 32nd | King and Queen County King and Queen County, Virginia As of the census of 2000, there were 6,630 people, 2,673 households, and 1,897 families residing in the county. The population density was 21 people per square mile . There were 3,010 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile... |
1705 | 1738 | 1765 | 1766 | |
| 33rd | Williamsburg | 1721 | 1766 | 1775 | 1775 |
See also
- John Robinson estate scandalJohn Robinson estate scandalThe John Robinson estate scandal was a major financial scandal in Colonial Virginia. After the 1766 death of John Robinson, the prestigious Virginia legislator who served as both Speaker of the House of Burgesses and colonial treasurer, Robinson's protege Edmund Pendleton was shocked to discover...
- List of Speakers of the Virginia House of Delegates