Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Calvert, Leonard
CALVERT, LEONARD (d. 1647), governor of Maryland, America, was the second son of George Calvert, first lord Baltimore [q. v.], and the brother of Cecil Calvert, second lord Baltimore, who received a charter for the colony from Charles I on 20 June 1632. At the request of his brother, Leonard Calvert set sail with the expedition from Cowes on 22 Nov. 1633 in the two ships the Ark of Avalon and the Dove. The emigrants consisted of two hundred persons of good families and of the Roman catholic persuasion; but although the colony was designed to be a refuge for English catholics, religious toleration was from the beginning proclaimed for all christians. The name Maryland was bestowed on the colony by Charles I in honour of his queen, Henrietta Maria. They arrived at Port Comfort, Virginia, on 27 Feb. 1634, and on 27 March took possession of an abandoned Indian village, which they named St. Mary's. Soon after his arrival Calvert had an interview with Captain Clayborne, who had established a trading station on Kent Island, Chesapeake Bay, and intimated to him that the settlement would be considered part of the Maryland colony. He also met an Englishman, Captain Henry Fleet, who had spent several years among the Indians, and through whose influence the chief was induced to go on board the governor's vessel, and to forego all objections to the settlement of the colony. For the first ten years of the existence of the colony there is an hiatus in the information, the records having been seized in 1646 by one of Clayborne's men and carried to England. Clayborne in 1635 resorted to force, but was defeated and fled to Virginia. For some years Calvert was in England, but returned to Maryland in August or September 1644 with a new commission from the lord proprietary. Meanwhile Clayborne had possessed himself of Kent Island, and Richard Ingle, who held a commission from the parliament, drove Calvert to Virginia; but in 1646 Calvert returned and routed the rebels. He then proceeded to reduce Kent Island, and after its submission, 16 April 1647, pardon was granted to all offenders. He died on 9 June in the same year. It is not know whether he was married or had any children.
[A narrative of the voyage of the colonists was written in Latin by Frank White, one of the jesuit missionarie who accompanied the colony. Of this pamphlet, a translation was published in Force's Tracts, and the Latin version, with a new translation and notes by the Rev. Dr. Dalrymple, in the Proceedings of the Maryland Historical Society. There is also a contemporary account of its settlement in A Relation of Maryland, together with a Map of the Country, the condition of Plantation, and his Majesty's charter to the Lord Baltimore, translated into English, London, 8 Sept. 1635. For lives of Calvert see Belknap's American Biography, ii. 372–80; Sparks's American Biography, xix. 1–229; Morris's Lords Baltimore (1874), pp. 36–41.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.49
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 274 | i | 16 | Calvert, Leonard : for Port Comfort, Virginia, on 24 Feb. read Point Comfort, Virginia, on 27 Feb. |
| 18 | after Indian village insert in Maryland | ||
| 26 f.e. | after Virginia insert In April 1637 Calvert was constituted lieutenant-general, admiral, commander, chancellor, and chief justice of Maryland. He stood by the authority of the king during the Civil War, and was viewed with hostility by the parliamentary party. | ||
| 21-20 f.e. | for and finally drove Calvert to Virginia read Richard Ingle, who held a commission from the parliament against malignants in Chesapeake Bay, finally drove Calvert to Virginia | ||
| 11 f.e. | for Frank White read Father Andrew White, S.J. |