John Guy

John Guy (25 December 1568 – February 1629) was an English merchant adventurer, colonist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1624. He was the first proprietary governor of Newfoundland Colony, the first attempt to establish a colony on Newfoundland. Early life Guy was the eldest son and second child of Thomas Guy, a cordwainer (shoemaker) of Bristol. He was born on 25 December 1568, and baptized a week later on 1 January 1569 at St Mary le Port Church, Bristol. He spent his youth growing up amongst his siblings, and was well educated for his times, he managed in later life to write poetry in Latin. He was apprenticed to a yeoman farmer, and on his parents' deaths, he inherited the family shoemaking business, he had various farming interests, and served as a factor representing the interests of the Bristol merchant community overseas for a period in Spain, where he mastered the art of navigation. Guy became a merchant and was admitted to the corporation of the city in 1603, as a Councillor of Bristol. He was also appointed the Sheriff of Bristol for the year 1605–06. During the emergency of 1605 when the country was threatened with invasion from overseas, he was appointed one of Rear-Admirals in the Royal Navy, as Bristol was at the time of the two main naval ports in the country. In 1607 he was also appointed Surveyor of Bristol, a post which gave him the responsibility for obtaining provisions for the naval vessels that visited the port of Bristol. Colonist In 1608 Guy and other members of the Society of Merchant Venturers, decided to act upon a letter received by the mayor from Chief Justice Sir John Popham concerning the colonisation of Newfoundland. Since John Cabot had discovered the island and Sir Humphrey Gilbert had formally taken possession of it for Elizabeth I of England, the merchants of the city had a special interest in Newfoundland, but there had been little attempt to exploit and colonise the island. The merchants decided not to embark on the scheme without the co-operation of King James VI of Scotland and Elizabeth I of England, which was forthcoming. Guy visited the island in 1608 to scout possible locations for a settlement, selecting Cuper's Cove (present day Cupids, Newfoundland and Labrador) as the site of the colony.