Everything about John Guy totally explained
» This article is about John Guy, the 17th century merchant. For John Guy the Tudor historian, see John Guy (historian); for John Guy the New Zealand cricketer, see John Guy (cricketer)
John Guy (d. c. March
1629) was a merchant from
Bristol,
England, and the first
Proprietary Governor of
Newfoundland leading the first attempt to establish a
colony on the island. Prior to leaving for Newfoundland, John Guy had been a member of
Bristol's
Common Council and had acted as its
sheriff from 1605 to 1606.
In 1607 Bristol's
Society of Merchant Venturers decided to seek the approval of King
James I to establish a colony in Newfoundland. Guy visited the island in 1608 to scout possible locations for a settlement, selecting
Cuper's Cove (present day
Cupids) as the site of the colony. In the spring of 1610 the
privy council accepted a petition by a consortium of London and Bristol merchants and issued a
charter to establish the Newfoundland colony.
Guy was appointed governor in 1610 by the
London and Bristol Company and arrived at Cupers Cove in August of that year with colonists, grain and livestock. Thirty-nine colonists spent the winter of 1610-1611 in the colony. During his governorship the colonists built and fortified the settlement, explored the area and planted crops. Guy returned to England in 1611 (leaving his brother-in-law in charge) and returned the next year with more livestock and female settlers.
In 1612 the actions of the
pirate Peter Easton convinced Guy to abandon a second colony established at
Renews in the spring of that year and strengthen the fortifications at Cupers Cove. In the fall of 1612 Guy led a voyage into
Trinity Bay in an attempt to contact and establish a fur trade with the
Beothuks, the native inhabitants of the island. On November 6 Guy's party met, shared a meal and exchanged gifts with a group of Beothuk somewhere in Bull Arm, Trinity Bay.
Guy returned to England in April 1613 and, as far as we know, he never returned to Newfoundland. However, it was largely as a result of his able leadership that the colony was so successful in the first three years of its existence. Guy became disillusioned due to the lack of support from the London merchants and remained in Bristol though he later received a grant of land in Newfoundland which he named Sea Forest.
John Mason was appointed the second governor of the Cuper's Cove colony in 1615. In 1618 Guy became mayor of Bristol and later sat as a
Member of Parliament for the city from 1620 to 1622 and again in 1624. While in parliament Guy defended the rights of the colonists in Newfoundland.
Archaeological excavations indicate that Cupers Cove continued to be occupied throughout the 17th century. Today the town of Cupids has a population of about 800.
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