Edward Digges

Edward Digges (29 March 1620 – 15 March 1674/75) was an English barrister and colonist who served as Colonial Governor of Virginia from March 1655 to December 1656. He invested heavily in planting mulberry trees and promoting the silk industry in the colony, in recognition of which he was appointed auditor-general of Virginia.

Born at Chilham Castle, Kent, England, and christened in Chilham parish on 29 March 1620, Edward Digges was the fourth son of Sir Dudley Digges (1583–1638) and his wife Mary Kempe (1583–?). Sir Dudley was the Master of the Rolls for King Charles I and an investor in the Virginia Company of London.

Edward Digges entered Gray's Inn in 1637 to become a barrister. He emigrated to the Virginia Colony about 1650 and purchased from Captain John West a plantation of 1250 acres in present-day York County, Virginia, near Yorktown. About 1653, he laid out Fort Mattapony near Walkerton, King and Queen County, Virginia.

Digges developed a strong interest in reviving the production of silk in Virginia. The cultivation of the silkworm had been attempted previously in the colony, in response to King James's interest in the subject. However, these early efforts had been unsuccessful, perhaps due to lack of enthusiasm among the colonists. Digges, in contrast, became deeply absorbed in his project. He brought over two Armenians to help him experiment with silk production, and even wrote a pamphlet entitled "The Reformed Virginia Silkworm", in which he claimed that "native silkworms could be kept outdoors on native mulberry trees and that Indians could be employed to care for the worms."

Digges sent a parcel of his silk to the Royal Society, by way of his cousin Dudley Palmer, one of the original Fellows of the Society. In the letter accompanying the silk sample, Digges comments on his findings, for example:

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