Sir Thomas Smythe

Thomas Smythe (also Smith) was an English merchant and entrepreneur active in the Virginia Company that is credited for establishing the colony in North America. He is known as financier of numerous trade ventures and exploration voyages.

Like his father, Thomas carried on the business as a member of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers and the Worshipful Company of Skinners, accumulating large fortune and prominence as a merchant.

After the famous English East India Company was founded in 1600, Smythe served as its first governor and held this post with short interrupt until 1621. During that period trade with India had developed and established. In the later period he also served as a governor of the Muscovy and French Companies. After a short imprisonment after a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I, he was knighted in 1603 by King James I. He was also appointed special ambassador to the tsar of Russia (1604-1605) with aim to negotiate new trading privileges for the Muscovy Company.

In 1609 Smythe obtained the second charter of the Virginia Company and served as its treasurer until 1618. However, his career within the company didn’t last long as he was forced to resign that post due to false charges of embezzlement and enriching himself at the company’s expense. Five years later Smythe obtained for himself the post of governor of the Somers Islands (Bermuda) Company founded in 1615, and is credited for development of islands with economic and political ties to Virginia.

Smythe has used his wealth and reputation for promoting voyages to discover a Northwest Passage to the Orient. In his honour, Smith Sound situated between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, was named by its discoverer William Baffin. During his lifetime he amassed a large fortune, a considerable part of which he devoted to charitable purposes. He died in 1625, at Sutton-at-Hone in Kent, probably of the plague.