Sir George Yeardley was a planter and colonial governor of the colony of Virginia. He was also among the first slaveowners in Colonial America. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ill-fated 1609 Third Supply Mission, whose flagship, the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked on Bermuda for ten months, he is best remembered for presiding over the initial session of the first representative legislative body in Virginia in 1619. With representatives from throughout the settled portion of the colony the group became known as the House of Burgesses and continued to meet, becoming the Virginia General Assembly.
- Occupation
- politician, planter, bodyguard
- Citizenship
- England
- Born
- 1588
- Died
