David Kirke

Sir David Kirke ( – ) was an English privateer and colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Newfoundland from 1638 to 1651. He is best known for capturing Québec from the French in 1629 during the Anglo-French War. A favourite of Charles I of England, Kirke's downfall came in 1651 when he was arrested after being accused of withholding taxes collected on behalf of the English government. Kirke was sent back to England, where he reportedly died in prison.

Early life

Kirke was a son of Gervase (Jarvis) Kirke, a rich merchant of the City of London, and Elizabeth Goudon, a French Huguenot woman. He was raised in Dieppe, in Normandy. David was the eldest of five sons, followed by Lewis, Thomas, John and James.

While still in England, David married to Sara Kirke. They left for Newfoundland in 1638 and had a number of children, including their sons George, David the Younger, and Phillip.

Quebec campaigns

Champlain leaves Quebec as a prisoner aboard Kirke's ship, after a bloodless siege in 1629. Image by Charles William Jefferys, 1942

Following the outbreak of the Anglo-French War, a group of merchants including Kirke's father received letters of marque from Charles I, granting them permission to launch an expedition against French Canada. Following this victory, they returned to England.

They would return to Canada the following year; their fleet, now consisting of six warships and three pinnaces, left Gravesend, Kent in March 1629 with Jacques Michel, a deserter from Samuel Champlain, to act as pilot on the St. Lawrence River. Kirke himself was aboard the expedition's flagship, Abigail. Champlain sent a party from Quebec, whose residents were on the point of starvation, to meet an expected French relief fleet under . Unknown to Champlain, Caën was also bringing word that in April peace had been declared in Europe by the Treaty of Susa. Although Champlain's party met Caën in the Gulf, they were captured by the English on their way upriver to Quebec. Kirke, now aware of the desperate conditions facing the Quebecers, sent his brothers Lewis and Thomas to demand a French surrender. Having no alternative, Champlain surrendered on 19 July 1629.

Governor of Newfoundland Kirke is believed to have visited Ferryland, as he published a report on the island of Newfoundland in 1635. The charter of this new grant had stipulations designed to reduce conflict with migratory fishermen; there was to be no settlement within six miles of the shore, fishing rooms were not to be occupied before the arrival of the summer fishing crews, and a five per cent tax was to be collected on all fish products taken by foreigners.

Kirke was installed as the Proprietary Governor and arrived in 1638 with one hundred colonists. The original governorship of the Avalon Peninsula had passed to Baltimore's son, Cecilius Calvert, who had installed William Hill as governor.

Kirke seized the governor's mansion, then occupied by Hill. In January 1638, the king also granted Kirke a coat of arms, "For the greater honour and splendour of that Countrey and the people therein inhabiting … to be used in all such cases as Armes are wont to be by other nations and Countries." Over the next several years, he built forts at Ferryland, St. John’s, and Bay de Verde. He collected tolls from all fishing vessels. His lands were acquired by the Commonwealth of England. Found not guilty, in 1653 Kirke re-purchased the title to his lands. His wife, Dame Sara Kirke, returned to Newfoundland to oversee his business and reclaim his property, but Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, brought new charges against Kirke over the title of the lands around Ferryland. In 1660, Treworgie returned to England to ask for another term as governor and for six year's salary he claimed he was owed. He never returned to Newfoundland.

Aftermath After David's death, Lady Sara Kirke and her sons took control over the Pool Plantation for the next decades.

The restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660 re-opened the debate between the Kirkes and the Calverts over the ownership of the Avalon Peninsula. This time, Cecil Calvert was successful in gaining the royal patent on Avalon, but he never took up residence. David Kirke's brother, now Sir Lewis Kirke, demanded compensation for improvements made at Ferryland by the Kirkes. Lady Kirke petitioned Charles II to make Lewis's nephew George Kirke the governor of Newfoundland, an arrangement suggested by the Newfoundlanders, but the king demurred from appointing a resident governor.

The grant of arms to Kirke was lost during the Civil War. During the aftermath of World War I, the Imperial War Graves Commission in Europe asked what arms should mark the graves of soldiers from Newfoundland. During the subsequent investigations, the Kirke arms were found in the College of Heralds. In 1928, they were adopted as the official coat of arms of Newfoundland and continue to be used today by the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.