SUMMARY Robert Beverley, also known as Major Robert Beverley or as Robert Beverley the immigrant, served as clerk of the House of Burgesses from 1677 until his death in 1687 despite attempts by the Privy Council and various royal governors to displace him. Born in England, Beverley moved to Virginia after the death of his first wife. There, he served as surveyor of Middlesex County, justice of the peace, a church vestryman, a major in the militia, and, in 1676, acting attorney general. He became wealthy exporting tobacco and importing other goods, and during Bacon’s Rebellion (1676), stoutly defended his friend the royal governor Sir William Berkeley. In 1677 he was elected clerk of the House but ran afoul of Berkeley’s successor, to whom he refused to turn over the legislative journals. Beverley was arrested in 1682 and confined to jail for two years, charged with conspiring to destroy tobacco in order to inflate the crop’s market price. After his release, he was e