ABOUT THE LECTURE

How the Jamestown Colony (1607-1623) survived the hazards of risky ocean voyages, hostile Indians, sickness & strange diseases, poisons, famine, massacres, and incompetent leadership, to become England’s first overseas colony, which would start the spread of the English language and democracy in North America.”

​Following Sir Walter Raleigh’s two failed attempts (1585 and 1587) to create an English colony on the eastern shore of North America, the “Virginia Company of London” was set up in 1606 as a purely commercial venture to seek gold and silver in the New World, to find a passage to the Pacific, and to Christianise the natives. They hired inappropriate colonists ranging from idle ‘Gentlemen’ to street beggars and sent them forth across the high seas to the far-flung shores of Virginia. However, their colony at Jamestown hung on the precipice of disaster and abandonment, with annual death rates from disease and starvation of more than 50%. This is the story of how the colony, with the help of Captain John Smith, and the Indian Princess Pocahontas, survived against all odds, eventually thriving with the aid of John Rolfe’s Virginia Tobacco blend. In1623, the bankrupt company was taken over by King James (the only Scot in this story) and became the first Royal Colony of the future British Empire.  

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

John B Crawford is ‘an Edinburgh lad’, who, after graduating from Strathclyde University and qualifying as a CA in Glasgow, joined InterContinental Hotels Corp in 1974 as a Travelling Auditor. After assignments in Melbourne, Bangkok, Bali, Teheran, Germany, Curacao, and New York HQ, he became the Financial Controller of the new London InterContinental Hotel at Hyde Park Corner in 1976. From 1980, he was a Finance Executive in Paris (for Europe), Nairobi (for Africa), Washington DC (for the Americas & Asia/Pacific), and finally for 20 years in Miami (Latin America & Caribbean). After retiring in 2010, he and his wife Veronika lived in Sedona, Arizona – a magical place – before moving back east to Charlottesville in Virginia.  

He has always been curious to explore the history of the Americas, especially the British connections, and his current proximity to the Tidewater / Chesapeake area of Virginia stimulated him to discover the story of the original Jamestown settlement. 

The Royal Scots Club has been his welcoming summer residence since 2020. While at Daniel Stewart’s College (now ‘ESME’) he joined the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), which was affiliated to the Royal Scots Regiment, so he considers himself almost a ‘genuine’ Member!