Sir Richard Whitbourne (1561–1635) was an Englishcolonist,mariner and writer.
Richard Whitbourne was born nearBishopsteignton in south Devon, England, where he was baptised on 20 June 1561.[1] Whilst apprenticed to a merchant adventurer ofSouthampton, he sailed extensively aroundEurope and twice toNewfoundland. He served in a ship of his own against theGreat Armada under Lord AdmiralThomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk. He spent the next thirty years in cod fishing offNewfoundland. He assisted the piratesPeter Easton andHenry Mainwaring to seek pardons fromJames I of England.[1]
Asked byWilliam Vaughan togovern hiscolony atRenews inNewfoundland, he did so from 1618 until 1620 when Vaughan abandoned the venture. Whitbourne was sent to establish law and order in the colony, he was the first to hold a court of justice inNorth America atTrinity in 1615.[2]
In 1620, Whitbourne publishedA Discourse and Discovery of New-found-land in order to promote colonisation on the island.[3]
Between 1589 (at latest) and 1627 Whitbourne had a house at or nearExmouth on the south Devon coast of England.[1][4] Perhaps dying on a foreign voyage, his burial place has yet to be confirmed of either his place of birth or at St. Saviour's Church, Southwark, London.[1]
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