Sir william berkeley biography definition

English colonial administrator

Not to be confused with his nephew, Sir William Berkeley (Royal Navy officer).

Sir William Berkeley (; 1605 – 9 July 1677) was an English colonial administrator who served as the governor of Virginia from 1660 to 1677.

One of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, as governor of Virginia he implemented policies that bred dissent among the colonists and sparked Bacon's Rebellion. A favourite of King Charles I, the king first granted him the governorship in 1642. Berkeley was unseated following the execution of Charles I, but his governorship was restored by King Charles II in 1660.

Charles II also named Berkeley one of the eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina, in recognition of his loyalty to the Stuarts during the English Civil War. As governor, Berkeley oversaw the implementation of a policy known as partus sequitur ventrem, which mandated that all babies born to enslaved parents take th Sir William Berkeley | Virginia Governor, Colonial America ...

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