Sir george calvert of ireland

CALVERT,GEORGE, 1st Baron Baltimore, colonizer in Newfoundland; b. at Kipling, Yorkshire, c. 1580, the son of Leonard Calvert and his wife Alice, daughter of John Crosland of Crosland; d. 15 April 1632 in England.

George Calvert was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, and, in 1606, was appointed private secretary to Sir Robert Cecil.

Advancing rapidly in the public service, he became clerk of the Privy Council in 1608 and was elected M.P. for Bossiney in 1609. Knighted in 1617, two years later he was made secretary of state and a member of the Privy Council.

One of the leaders of the court party, he proved an effective exponent of the royal policy in Parliament until his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1625 led to his resignation as secretary of state. On his retirement from politics he was created Baron Baltimore of county Longford, Ireland, as a reward for his loyalty to the king.

He now had leisure to devote to the colony in Newfoundland