Ferdinando Gorges

Ferdinando Gorges
Arms of Gorges (modern): Lozengy or and azure, a chevron gules. These arms resulted from the famous 1347 heraldry case of Warbelton v Gorges
2nd colonial governor of Maine
In office 1639 – May 24, 1647
Preceded by	William Gorges
Succeeded by	Thomas Gorges
Personal details
Born	1565-1568? Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England
Died	May 24, 1647 Ashton Phillips, Somerset, England
Spouse(s)	Ann Bell (died 1620); 4 children. Mary Fulford {Mrs Achims (a widow)} Elizabeth Gorges, {Mrs Courteney (a widow)} Elizabeth {Lady Smyth (a widow)}
Profession	Governor, entrepreneur and founder of the Province of Maine
Signature

Sir Ferdinando Gorges (1565-1568? – May 24, 1647) was a naval and military commander and governor of the important port of Plymouth in England. He was involved in Essex's Rebellion against the Queen, but escaped punishment by testifying against the main conspirators. His early involvement in English trade with and settlement of North America as well as his efforts in founding the Province of Maine in 1622 earned him the title of the "Father of English Colonization in North America," even though Gorges himself never set foot in the New World.

Sir Ferdinando Gorges was born sometime between 1565 and 1568, probably in Clerkenwell, in Middlesex County where the family maintained their town house, but possibly in the family estate near Wraxall, Somerset, in the county of Somerset. He was the second son of Edward Gorges, Esq., and Lady Cicely Lygon. The circumstances of his father's death at 31 suggested to Gorges's first biographer that Ferdinando was born around the time of his father's death on August 29, 1568. Edward Gorges, however, evidently realizing that his illness was fatal, prepared his will on August 10, 1568, (and proved on September 17 of the same year) in which Edward bequeathed Ferdinando a 23-ounce gold watch and devised to him the manor of Birdcombe, Wraxal, for a term of 24 years. The terms of the testamentary gifts led an earlier memorialist to conclude that Ferdinando had been born sometime between 1565 and 1567.

Gorges's ancestors on his father's side arrived in England with the Norman invasion. The male line of the Gorges family died out on the death of Ralph de Gorges of Knighton, Isle of Wight, 2nd Baron Gorges, in 1331. A cadet branch of the Russells of Kingston Russell, Dorset, changed its name to the matronymic Gorges, and it was from this branch that Ferdinando descended. They were said to have lived in Somersetshire from the time of Henry I and held their estates in Wraxal since the time of Edward II. Ferdinando's great-great-grandfather married the eldest daughter of the first Duke of Norfolk, and from this event they claim their royal connection. The Gorges were recipients of many royal appointments and privileges since Edward's time. Ferdinando's father Edward, as first born, became the possessor of the family estate in Wraxal when his father died in 1558 when he was 21. Notwithstanding the family tradition in royal offices, neither Edward nor his father Edmund took part in public affairs (the early deaths of both of them may have been a partial explanation).