Ward's Book of Days.
Pages of interesting anniversaries.
What happened on this day in history.
OCTOBER 29th
On this day in history in 1618, died Walter Raleigh.
Raleigh was a courtier of Elizabeth I, who explored North America looking for gold, but found only potatoes and tobacco.
Raleigh
was born in 1554, in Hayes Barton, Devon, the younger son of Walter Raleigh
and his third wife, Katherine. Little is known of his early life, but we do
know that in 1569, he was in France, fighting on the Protestant side in the
Wars of Religion. In 1572, he is known to have been at Oriel College, Oxford,
and in 1575, at the Middle Temple.
In
1580, Raleigh was enlisted to fight against the Irish rebels in Munster, where
his outspoken criticism of the way in which the campaign was led, drew the
attention of Queen Elizabeth I. He was quickly promoted, and his services
gained him a place at the queen’s court. He was rewarded with an estate in
Ireland and received trading rights in wines, cloth and various materials
imported from the New World. He received a knighthood in 1585.
In
1588, Raleigh married Elizabeth Throckmorton, without obtaining the queen’s
permission. This was illegal as, being a courtier, the monarch should have
decided who he would marry. In 1592, when his first son was born, Raleigh’s
marriage became public knowledge and he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Raleigh bought himself out by paying a fine, financed from his lucrative
trading. He was not invited back to the court.
Raleigh's
breach with the Queen allowed him to pursue further trading adventures. He
established a colony in North America, which he called Virginia, in order to
flatter Elizabeth, England’s virgin queen, but never set foot there himself.
He had tobacco and potatoes sent from his new colony. The potatoes were
planted in his estate in Ireland, making him the first British potato planter.
He also became the first British smoker, using a long pipe with the tobacco in
bowl. On one occasion when he was indulging in his new found nicotine habit,
his manservant, believing him to be ablaze, threw a bucket of water over him,
in a mistaken attempt to save his master’s life.
In
1595, Raleigh led an expedition to what we now call Guyana, in South America,
sailing up the Orinoco River through the Spanish colonial empire. He described
the expedition in his book The Discoverie of Guiana. Stories told by
Indians had convinced him of Eldorado, a fabulous city of gold in the interior
of South America. He did locate some gold, but not on the scale he had been
led to believe. In
1596 he led an expedition against the Spanish city of Cádiz, and was rear
admiral on an expedition to the Azores, part of Spanish territory.
When
King James I of England, James VI of Scots, came to the throne in 1603,
Raleigh’s enemies conspired to bring him down. He was accused of plotting
against the king, convicted on the basis of perjured evidence and, once more,
sent to the Tower. In 1616, he was released but not pardoned, after promising
to lead an expedition to find gold in the Americas.
He
led a second expedition but found no gold. The expedition was attacked by the
Spaniards and most of the crew, including Raleigh's
son Walter, were killed in the action. In 1618, when Raleigh eventually
returned without any gold, the king invoked the suspended sentence and Raleigh
went to the block on 29th October 1618. Raleigh
is buried in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster. [St
Margaret’s Church, St Margaret Street, London SW1P 3JX]
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