Christopher Codrington

Colonel Christopher Codrington ( – ) was an English planter and colonial administrator who served as the governor of the Leeward Islands from 1689 to 1699.

Early life

Born about 1640 on Barbados, Codrington was the son of another Christopher Codrington and probably the grandson of Robert Codrington, a landed gentleman with an estate at Dodington, Gloucestershire. His father was a royalist who had arrived in Barbados around 1640, married a sister of James Drax, a leading plantation owner, and acquired an estate in the parish of Saint John. He made a small fortune there, most of which he left to his son when he died in 1656.

Career

In 1663, Codrington and other men of Barbados bought the island of Saint Lucia from native chiefs there. and then a younger son called John, who was an "imbecile." In 1669, Codrington was accused of murdering Henry Willoughby, a son of the Governor, Lord Willoughby, in the course of a dispute about Codrington's acquisition of a desirable estate on Barbados called Consetts. Willoughby died suddenly with a "violent burning of the stomach", a few hours after eating a meal with Codrington, and although no wrongdoing was ever proved, Codrington never entirely recovered his good name on the island. He began to trade outside the law and to move his investments away from Barbados. The exact reasons for his removal are unclear, but on 12 November 1672 Lord Willoughby wrote "My late Deputy Coll: Codrington hath harrassed them to death wth needless improssitions." He was appointed as captain-general of the English Leeward Islands, and in 1683 moved his base of operations to Antigua, where he was an important plantation-owner and was influential in reforms to make the island more like Barbados. By 1685, he had founded the settlement of Codrington on Barbuda and went on to build a stronghold there.

During the Nine Years' War of 1688 to 1697 he led a series of armed conflicts with the French. As a captain general, Codrington found many ways to line his own pockets and was the target of allegations of corruption when he died in 1698, not long after the Peace of Ryswick. King William III appointed this son to succeed him as captain-general and commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands.