John Guy (governor) - Coloniser

Coloniser

In 1608 Guy and other members of the Society of Merchant Venturers decided to act upon a letter received by the mayor from Chief Justice Popham concerning the colonisation of Newfoundland. Since John Cabot had discovered the island and Sir Humfrey Gilbert had formally taken possession of it for Queen Elizabeth, the merchants of the city had a special interest in Newfoundland, but there had been little attempt to exploit and colonise the island. The merchants decided not to embark on the scheme without the co-operation of King James I, which was forthcoming. Guy visited the island in 1608 to scout possible locations for a settlement, selecting Cuper's Cove (present day Cupids) as the site of the colony. In 1609, he put forward a proposal "to animate the English to plant in Newfoundland." The merchants of Bristol and London took up the idea with enthusiasm and a list of contributions was made out with Guy and others subscribing twenty marks a year for five years. On 27 April 1610 James I granted a charter to Henry Spencer, Earl of Northampton, keeper of the privy seal, and others including John Guy and his brother Philip Guy, which incorporated them as the "Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the Cities of London and Bristol, for the purpose of colonising Newfoundland, and comprehending as their sphere of action the southern and eastern parts of the new found land between 46° and 52° N. L."

Guy was appointed governor in 1610 by the London and Bristol Company and arrived at Cupers Cove in August of that year with colonists, grain and livestock. Thirty-nine colonists spent the winter of 1610–1611 in the colony. During his governorship the colonists built and fortified the settlement, explored the area and planted crops. Guy returned to England in 1611 leaving William Colston and his brother Philip to manage the colony. Back in England, he was treasurer of the merchant venturers from 1611 to 1612 and then returned the next year with more livestock and female settlers.

In 1612 the actions of the pirate Peter Easton convinced Guy to abandon a second colony established at Renews in the spring of that year and strengthen the fortifications at Cupers Cove. In Autumn 1612 Guy led a voyage into Trinity Bay in an attempt to contact and establish a fur trade with the Beothuks, the native inhabitants of the island. On 6 November Guy's party met, shared a meal and exchanged gifts with a group of Beothuk somewhere in Bull Arm, Trinity Bay.