John White (surveyor)

John White (c.1540 – c.1618) {{ref|birthdate}} "Gentleman of London" and probable doctor, was sent by Sir Richard Grenville as Sir Walter Raleigh's surveyor-general on his first voyage to the New World (1585-6). During this journey he made numerous sketches of the landscape and people they encountered (including the one at right). These works are significant as they pre-date the first body of "discovery voyage art" created in the late eighteenth century by the artists who sailed with Captain James Cook.

Related Topics:
1540 - 1618 - London - Doctor - Richard Grenville - Walter Raleigh - New World - 1585 - 6 - James Cook

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White later became governor of the newly established Roanoke Colony. The first baby born there was his granddaughter, Virginia Dare. When the colony ran low on supplies, White returned to England for provisions. His passage was delayed by the Spanish Armada, and when he at last returned to Roanoke in August of 1590 he found it deserted. After vainly searching the adjacent islands for the colonists, he arrived in Plymouth on October 24 of that year.

Related Topics:
Roanoke Colony - Virginia Dare - Spanish Armada - 1590 - Plymouth - October 24

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Little is known of his life after the mysterious failure of the Roanoke Colony. The last surviving document mentioning of White dates to 1593. However, there is a record from May of 1606 of a Bridgit White being appointed estate administrator for her brother "John White." This record suggests that White may have died in 1606, although it also may suggest his own banishment to the Tower of London under the new rulership of King James I (Ruled: 1603 to 1625) who immediately had Sir Walter Raleigh imprisoned there in 1603.

Related Topics:
1593 - May - 1606 - Tower of London - King James I - 1603 - 1625

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A Bridgett White was also the second wife of a Robert Wight (1578–1617) of Hareby, Lincolnshire, England whom he married on November 25, 1613 at Alford. As this Robert was also the son of an obscure John Wight (b. abt. 1552) and the father of an Elizabeth Wighte (1606–1671) who is sometimes thought to have been the ex-wife of Nathaniel Eaton (1610–1674), the first schoolmaster of Harvard College, Massachusetts; there is a possibility that Bridgit White, the sister of John White the Governor of Roanoke Colony, and Bridgett White, the second wife of the same above-mentioned Robert Wight, are directly related to each other.

Related Topics:
Lincolnshire, England - November 25 - 1613 - Alford - Nathaniel Eaton - Harvard College - Massachusetts

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As an additional matter of interest, there is also a record of an Ann Barlow of Petersfield, Hants (died 1665), who was the second wife of a certain Josias White (1573–1622) of Hornchurch, Essex, son of a John White of Stanton St John, Oxford (1540 – before September 30, 1618), who afterwards married a Francis Drake (1573–1634) of Walton, Surrey – the nephew of Sir Francis Drake (1540–1596) the famous explorer. {{ref|Drake}} This Josias White was the grandson of another John White (died 1580) whose relations were connected to the British Crown such as Dr Thomas White (1514–1588), "Lord Warden of New College, Oxford" and apparently good friend of Queen Elizabeth I as he avoided censure due to her personal intervention even though he was an avowed Catholic. Its only conjecture, but as the name Barlow is associated with the initial discovery and mapping of the Virginia coast by Capt Arthur Barlowe (1550–1620) in 1584, and that it was on Barlow's ship John White first sailed in on as the official illustrator of the New World, its easy to jump to conclusions and say that Ann Barlow is directly connected to the first Governor of Roanoke, Virginia in this way.

Related Topics:
Petersfield - Hants - 1665 - Hornchurch - Essex - Stanton St John - Oxford - 1540 - September 30 - 1618 - Walton - Surrey - Francis Drake - British - Crown - Dr Thomas White - Lord Warden of New College, Oxford - Queen Elizabeth I - Catholic - Arthur Barlowe - 1584 - New World

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John White of Stanton St John This same "John White of Stanton St John" who died in 1618 respecfully had a son by the name of the Rev. John White (1575–1648) of Dorchester who himself became famous as the "Founder of Massachusetts", the colony. He also had a similar "problem" with finding the right Bay in which to make his colony as did John White the surveyor, and had a peculiar way of referring to savory meat dishes as "sweat meats" as did John the surveyor, even though many of the dishes that he refers to have no sugar or sweatening substances in them at all.

Related Topics:
Dorchester - Massachusetts - Sweat meats

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Further, as Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight and "Lord Warden of Cornwall and Oxford", was beheaded on October of 1618; it also seems entirely plausible to presume that these two John's are one and the same people both due to the fact that "John White of Stanton St John" was from this very same Oxford, and that he seems to have coincidentally died in September of 1618 himself, one month before Sir Walter Raleigh was executed under the reign of King James I.

Related Topics:
Cornwall - King James I

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Lastly, any prerequisite to being an expert 16th Century illustrator required a "hands on" education in human and animal anatomy, and "John White of Stanton St John's" uncle – "Dr Thomas White, Lord Warden of New College, Oxford" – would have been just such an individual who could have exhaustively intruduced his nephew to such an education. The argument seems sparsely supportable to conclude that the above-stated "John White (surveyor)", and "John White of Stanton St John" are not one and the same people.

Related Topics:
16th Century - Anatomy - New College, Oxford

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