George Calvert (1580? - 1632)
A Dream Awakened

George Calvert served in the government of King James I until 1625 when he announced he had joined the Roman Catholic Church. In England, this disqualified him for public service. However, Calvert had served the crown so well that King James I bestowed on him property in Ireland and the title, Baron of Baltimore. Long interested in colonization, Calvert was an early investor in the Virginia Company that founded Jamestown. In 1621, he established his own colony in Newfoundland. George Calvert moved there with his family in 1628. After a severe winter on the island, Calvert began to look to the south as a region better suited to "human habitation." He lobbied King Charles I for a grant of land near Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay, but Calvert died before a charter was granted.

Copy by Willem Wirtz of portrait of George Calvert
painted by Daniel Mytens. Oil on canvas