William Berkeley (governor)

Sir William Berkeley
Governor of Virginia
In office 1660–1677
Appointed by	Charles II
Preceded by	Samuel Mathews
Succeeded by	Sir Herbert Jeffreys
In office 1642–1652
Appointed by	Charles I
Preceded by	Sir Francis Wyatt
Succeeded by	Richard Bennett
Personal details
Born	1605 Hanworth Manor, Middlesex, England
Died	9 July 1677(1677-07-09) (aged 71–72) Berkeley House, Mayfair, England
Resting place	St Mary's Church, Twickenham Middlesex, England
Spouse	Frances Culpeper Stephens Berkeley
Residence(s)	Green Spring Plantation, James City County, Virginia
Occupation	Planter
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Sir William Berkeley (/ˈbɑːrkliː/; 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.