Carolina Founders - John Berkeley, Baron of Stratton





John Berkeley, Baron of Stratton


John, first Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1607-1678), was, like Craven, an almost fanatical follower of the Stuarts. During the English Civil War, when Charles I's queen was expecting a child, her husband placed her at Exeter because it was under Berkeley's command. A skillful politician, he was president of the important Council for Foreign Plantations, making many decisions affecting British possessions in America. John Berkeley was an English army officer and courtier. A royalist, he fought in numerous engagements in the English civil war and later, through association with the Duke of York (later James II), won great political advancement. He was raised to the peerage in 1658, appointed lord president of Connacht for life in 1661, and appointed as one of the proprietors of New Jersey in 1664. From 1670 to 1672 he was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.