George Calvert 1st Baron Baltimore Politician

George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (1579 – 15 April 1632) was an English politician and colonizer. He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family. Rather than continue in politics, he resigned all of his political offices in 1625 except for his position on the Privy Council and declared his Catholicism publicly. He was created Baron Baltimore in the Irish peerage upon his resignation. Baltimore Manor was located in County Longford, Ireland.Calvert took an interest in the British colonization of the Americas, at first for commercial reasons and later to create a refuge for English Catholics. He became the proprietor of Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula on the island of Newfoundland (off the eastern coast of modern Canada). Discouraged by its cold and sometimes inhospitable climate and the sufferings of the settlers, Sir George looked for a more suitable spot further south and sought a new royal charter to settle the region, which would become the state of Maryland. Calvert died five weeks before the new Charter was sealed, leaving the settlement of the Maryland colony to his son Cecil, (1605-1675). His second son Leonard Calvert, (1606-1647), was the first colonial governor of the Province of Maryland. Historians have long recognized George Calvert as the founder of Maryland, in spirit if not in fact, along with the role of Leonard with his intimate relationship with his older brother back in England, plus being on the site as the Colony was first settled as extremely advantageous.

Personal facts

Alias (AKA)	1st Baron Baltimore
Birth date	January 01, 1579
Birth place	Richmondshire , Kiplin , Trinton
Religion	Catholic Church
Date of death	April 15, 1632
Place of death	London , County Longford , Lincoln's Inn Fields , Baltimore Hall
Children	Cecil Calvert 2nd Baron Baltimore Phillip Calvert (governor) Leonard Calvert