Leonard Calvert
| Leonard Calvert | |
|---|---|
Leonard Calvert
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| Governor of the Maryland Colony | |
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In office 1634–1647 |
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| Preceded by | Inaugural holder |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Greene |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1606 England |
| Died | June 9, 1647 (aged 40–41) Maryland colony |
| Children | William |
| Occupation | Planter, Politician |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Leonard Calvert (1606 – June 9, 1647) was the first proprietary governor of the Province of Maryland. He was the second son of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), the first proprietor of Maryland. His elder brother Cecil (1605–1675), who inherited the colony and the title upon the death of their father George, April 15, 1632, appointed Leonard as governor of the Colony in his absence. Leonard was named after his grandfather, who was Leonard Calvert of Yorkshire.
When Leonard's father George received a patent for the Province of Avalon in the island of Newfoundland (off the eastern coast of modern Canada) from James I of England in 1625, he relocated part of his newly converted Catholic family to Newfoundland.
In 1628, Leonard accompanied his father to the new colony of Newfoundland. The colony ultimately failed due to disease, extreme cold and attacks by the French, and the family returned to England. After a few years, George Calvert declared Avalon a failure and traveled to the Colony of Virginia, where he found the climate much more suitable and temperate, but was met with an unwelcome reception from the Virginians' government and elite.
In 1632, he returned to England where he negotiated an additional patent for the colony of Maryland from King Charles I of England. However, before the papers could be executed, George died on April 15, 1632.
On June 20, 1632, Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore, executed the charter for the colony of Maryland that his father had negotiated. The charter consisted of 23 sections, but the most important conferred on Lord Baltimore and his heirs, besides the right of absolute ownership in the soil, certain powers, ecclesiastical as well as civil, resembling those possessed by the nobility of the Middle Ages. Leonard Calvert was appointed the colony's first Governor.
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