James Oglethorpe

James Edward Oglethorpe
Governor of Georgia
In office 1732–1743
Prime Minister	Sir Robert Walpole
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	William Stephens
Member of Parliament for Haslemere
In office 1722–1754
Preceded by	Nicholas Carew
Succeeded by	James More Molyneux
Personal details
Born	(1696-12-22)22 December 1696 Godalming, Surrey, England
Died	30 June 1785(1785-06-30) (aged 88) Cranham, Essex, England
Political party	Tory
Spouse	Elizabeth (née Wright)
Alma mater	Eton College, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, a military academy, Paris, France
Profession	Statesman, soldier, agriculturalist
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James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696^[1] – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, and the founder of the Province of Georgia in what was then colonial-era British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to resettle Britain's "worthy poor" in the New World, initially focusing on those in debtors' prisons.

Born to a prominent British family, Oglethorpe left college in England and a British Army commission to travel to France, where he attended a military academy before fighting under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Austro-Turkish War. He returned to England in 1718 and was elected to the House of Commons in 1722. His early years were relatively undistinguished until 1729, when Oglethorpe was made chair of the Gaols Committee that investigated British debtors' prisons. After the report was published, to widespread attention, Oglethorpe and others began publicizing the idea of a new colony, to serve as a buffer between the Carolinas and Spanish Florida. After being granted a charter, Oglethorpe sailed to Georgia in November 1732.

He was a major figure in the early history of the colony, holding much civil and military power and instituting a ban on slavery and alcohol. During the War of Jenkins' Ear, Oglethorpe led British troops in Georgia against Spanish forces based in Florida. In 1740, he led a lengthy siege of St. Augustine, which was unsuccessful. He then defeated a Spanish invasion of Georgia in 1742. Oglethorpe left the colony after another unsuccessful invasion of St. Augustine and never returned. He led some government troops in the Jacobite rising of 1745 and was blamed for British defeat in the Clifton Moor Skirmish. Despite being cleared in a court martial, Oglethorpe never held British command again. He lost reelection to the House of Commons in 1754. He left England and may have served undercover in the Prussian Army during the Seven Years' War. In his later years, Oglethorpe was prominent in literary circles, becoming close to James Boswell and Samuel Johnson.