Article

George Calvert

Published Online May 28, 2008

Last Edited March 4, 2015

George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English colonizer (b at Kipling, Eng 1579/80; d at London, Eng 15 Apr 1632). In 1621 he established a colony at FERRYLAND on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, which became, by royal charter

George Calvert

 George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English colonizer (b at Kipling, Eng 1579/80; d at London, Eng 15 Apr 1632). In 1621 he established a colony at FERRYLAND on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, which became, by royal charter (1623), the province of Avalon. Calvert visited the colony personally in 1627 and the next year stayed the winter with his family. He was forced to defend his colony against attacks by French privateers, and also encountered difficulties when the Puritans there resented the Roman Catholic priests and settlers he had brought to Newfoundland. In 1629 Calvert left to seek a grant of land in a more hospitable climate. He obtained, under his son Cecil, what became the colony of Maryland.