Thomas Warner (explorer)
Thomas Warner (1580 – 10 March 1649) was an English colonial official who served as the Governor of Saint Kitts from 1627 to 1649. The English colony he founded in Saint Kitts in 1624 is the oldest English settlement in the West Indies. The native Kalinago were massacred during his time as governor.
Early life
Thomas Warner was from Suffolk, England. He became a member of King James VI and I's bodyguard.[1]
Career
Warner participated in Roger North's failed English colony in Guyana in 1620.[2]
An English mission to Saint Kitts arrived on 28 January 1624,[2] and followed by a French mission in 1625.[3] The French were led by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc while the English were led by Warner and they arrived on opposite sides of the island. D'Enambuc and Warner agreed to return to their countries and discuss dividing the island. Warner returned with 400 men and a treaty signed on 13 May 1627, divided the island between France and England. The French suffered from high mortality and the English seized their colony. However, the French regained their colony in 1629.[4] The settlement established by Warner is the oldest English settlement in the West Indies.[5]
The French and English united to kill and expel the local inhabitants.[6][7] The English killed many Kalinago at the Massacre at Bloody Point in January 1626, and the area became known as Bloody Point due to all of the blood that washed into the river.[8]
James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle, the proprietary grantee, appointed Warner as governor for life of Saint Kitts in 1627. The overproduction of tobacco led to Warner and French Governor Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy agreeing to destroy the current crop and prohibit planting of tobacco for eighteen months.[2]
Personal life
Warner died on 10 March 1649. Warner's son Thomas Warner was made governor of Dominica.[9]
See also
References
- ^ Schreiber 1984, p. 169.
- ^ a b c Niddrie 1966, p. 6.
- ^ Taylor & Case 2013, p. 886.
- ^ Guérin 1891, pp. 4–9.
- ^ Alexander 1901, p. 42.
- ^ Guérin 1891, p. 5.
- ^ Roper 2018, p. 48.
- ^ Roper 2018, p. 50.
- ^ Roper 2018, p. 52.
Works cited
Books
- Roper, L., ed. (2018). The Torrid Zone: Caribbean Colonization and Cultural Interaction in the Long Seventeenth Century. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9781611178913.
- Taylor, Patrick; Case, Frederick, eds. (2013). The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions: Volume 1: A-L; Volume 2: M-Z. University of Illinois Press.
Journals
- Alexander, W. (1901). "St. Christopher, West Indies". Bulletin of the American Geographical Society. 33 (1). Taylor & Francis: 42–46. doi:10.2307/198557. JSTOR 198557.
- Guérin, Léon (1891). "The Foundation of the French Power in the West Indies - 1626-1664". Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection: 1–22. doi:10.2307/60231068. JSTOR 60231068.
- Niddrie, David (1966). "An Attempt at Planned Settlement in St. Kitts in the Early Eighteenth Century". Caribbean Studies. 5 (4). University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus: 3–11. doi:10.2307/25611906. JSTOR 25611906.
- Schreiber, Roy (1984). "An Attempt at Planned Settlement in St. Kitts in the Early Eighteenth Century". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 74 (7). University of Pennsylvania Press: 1–202. doi:10.2307/1006420. JSTOR 1006420.