William Berkeley (governor)

Sir William Berkeley
Portrait of William Berkeley
Governor of Virginia
In office
1660–1677
Appointed byCharles II
Preceded bySamuel Mathews
Succeeded bySir Herbert Jeffreys
In office
1642–1652
Appointed byCharles I
Preceded bySir Francis Wyatt
Succeeded byRichard Bennett
Personal details
Born1605
Hanworth Manor,
Middlesex, England
Died9 July 1677(1677-07-09) (aged 71–72)
Berkeley House,
Mayfair, England
Resting placeSt Mary's Church, Twickenham
Middlesex, England
SpouseFrances Culpeper Stephens Berkeley
Residence(s)Green Spring Plantation, James City County, Virginia
OccupationPlanter
SignatureSignature "William Berkeley"

Sir William Berkeley (/ˈbɑːrkl/; 1605 – 9 July 1677) was an English colonial administrator who served as the governor of Virginia from 1660 to 1677. One of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, as governor of Virginia he implemented policies that bred dissent among the colonists and sparked Bacon's Rebellion. A favourite of King Charles I, the king first granted him the governorship in 1642. Berkeley was unseated following the execution of Charles I, but his governorship was restored by King Charles II in 1660.

Charles II also named Berkeley one of the eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina, in recognition of his loyalty to the Stuarts during the English Civil War. As governor, Berkeley oversaw the implementation of a policy known as partus sequitur ventrem, which mandated that all babies born to enslaved parents take the legal status of their mother. As proprietor of Green Spring Plantation in James City County, he experimented with activities such as growing silkworms as part of his efforts to expand the tobacco-based economy. He was the author of Discourse and View of Virginia, where he argued for diversifying the colony's tobacco economy.