-
a professional soldier, served as governor of the first colony attempted by the English in America. At that time, the region that encompassed
-
land patent was called Virginia in honor of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. The first colony was organized as a military venture from which the Spanish, colonial rival of the English, could be harassed and to serve as a base for the exploration of the new land.
-
Lane, born to Sir Ralph Lane and Maud Parr Lane of Northampton, attended Oxford University in 1554 and served in the English Parliament in late 1550s and early 1560s.
-
By 1563 Lane was serving in Queen Elizabeth I’s court, marking the beginning of a career of service to queen and country. Lane participated in a force that suppressed a rebellion in Scotland in 1569 where he gained accolades for his military skill
-
In 1585 the queen recalled Lane from Ireland and he was given command of the colony that Sir Walter Raleigh was organizing to sail to Virginia (Roanoke Island).
-
In April 1585, seven ships with about 600 men under the overall command of Sir Richard Grenville left England. After a storm scattered the fleet and reduced it to five ships, the company regrouped.
-
Lane’s colony of 107 men lasted for only eight months. Lane’s men explored the countryside with the intent of finding a better site for settlement. The colony suffered because of the lack of supplies and Lane’s lack of skill in dealing with the Indians. Eventually,
-
Thomas Harriot’s Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588) and his account of the colony appeared in Richard Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations (1589)