SUMMARY
Thomas West, twelfth baron De La Warr, served as the first governor of Virginia appointed by the Virginia Company of London, living in the colony only briefly but holding the title until his death. Born to a wealthy and well-connected Protestant family, De La Warr attended Oxford without taking a degree and served with his first cousin, Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, in Ireland. After managing to escape the taint of Essex’s failed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth, De La Warr invested in the Virginia Company and, after James I issued its second charter, was appointed governor and captain-general for life. He arrived at Jamestown in 1610 just in time to save the colony from abandonment. After establishing a strict, military-like regime and renewing a brutal campaign against the Indians, he left Virginia in March 1611 because of illness. De La Warr attempted to return to Virginia in 1618, having never relinquished his title of governor, but he died en route. Three of his brothers also lived in the colony, two of whom, Francis West and John West, also served as governor. The Delaware River was named for De La Warr.