The speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses was the presiding officer of the House of Burgesses, the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly during the period in which Virginia was a colony of the Kingdom of England and, after 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The General Assembly itself was first organized in 1619, when the colony was owned and administered by the London Company. Twenty-two burgesses were elected to that Assembly, two each from eleven designated settlement areas in the colony. The Assembly formed a unicameral legislature made up of the burgesses and the appointed members of the Governor's Council, presided over by the Governor, George Yeardley. Yeardley designated his secretary, John Pory, a council member, as Speaker of the General Assembly. Pory, however, appears to have acted only as secretary of the Assembly.[1]

The General (or Grand) Assembly met seventeen more times from that first session through 1642. Its legal standing was put in doubt when the London Company was dissolved in May 1624 and Virginia came under the direct administration of the Crown.[1][2]

A crisis developed in the spring of 1635 when an unpopular governor, Sir John Harvey, was arrested and deported to England by his own Council. This led to the February 1639 reappointment of former Governor Sir Francis Wyatt. Wyatt's instructions acknowledged the legal status of the General Assembly and of land titles granted by the London Company, ending 15 years of legal limbo.[2]

In late 1642 Sir William Berkeley was appointed Governor. He reorganized the Assembly into two houses along the lines of the English Parliament. The new lower house, the House of Burgesses, was to provide a counterweight to the Council-led group that had deposed Harvey. However, they maneuvered to elect one of their own, Thomas Stegg, as the first Speaker of the new House when it convened in March 1643.[2]

Speaker Peyton Randolph supported independence in the 1770s. The House of Burgesses was called back by the Royal Governor Lord Dunmore one last time in June 1775 to address British Prime Minister Lord North's Conciliatory Resolution. Randolph, who was a delegate to the Continental Congress, returned to Williamsburg to take his place as Speaker. The House of Burgesses rejected the proposal, which was also later rejected by the Continental Congress.[3] The burgesses met in conventions that served as a revolutionary provisional government for Virginia. Randolph served as the president of the conventions until his death in October 1775. The burgesses did not elect a new speaker, but did elect a new president for the conventions. They passed the role of the House of Burgesses to the House of Delegates when they adopted the Constitution of Virginia in June 1776.

Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1643–1776
Order[4]NameCounty or cityBornTerm beganTerm endedDied
1stThomas SteggCharles City Countyunknown164316431652
2ndEdward Hill Sr.Charles City Countyunknown164416451663 (ca.)
3rdEdmund ScarboroughNorthampton County1617 (ca.)164516461671
4thAmbrose HarmerJames City Countyunknown164616461647 (ca.)
5thThomas HarwoodWarwick Countyunknown164716491652
16501651
6thEdward MajorNansemond County1615165216521655 (ca.)
7thThomas DewNansemond Countyunknown165216521691 (ca.)
8thWalter ChilesJames City Countyunknown165316531653
9thWilliam WhitbyWarwick Countyunknown165316531655
2ndEdward Hill Sr.Charles City Countyunknown165416551663 (ca.)
10thFrancis MorysonJames City Countybef. 1628165616561680/81
16571657
11thJohn SmithWarwick County1620165816581663
2ndEdward Hill Sr.Charles City Countyunknown165916591663 (ca.)
12thTheodorick BlandCharles City County1629166016601671/72
13thHenry SoaneJames City Countyunknown166116611661
14thRobert WynneCharles City County1622166216741675
16751675
15thAugustine Warner Jr.Gloucester County1642/43167616761681
16thThomas GodwinNansemond Countyunknown167616761677/78
15thAugustine Warner Jr.Gloucester County1642/43167716771681
17thWilliam TraversRappahannock Countyunknown167716771679
16781678
18thMathew KempGloucester Countyunknown167916791682
19thThomas BallardJames City County1630168016821690
16831683
20thEdward Hill, Jr.Charles City County1637168416841700
21stWilliam KendallNorthampton County1621168516851686
22ndArthur AllenSurry Countyunknown168616881710
16891690
23rdThomas MilnerNansemond Countyunknown169116931694
16941695
24thPhilip Ludwell Jr.James City County1672169516961726/27
25thRobert CarterLancaster County1662/63169616971732
26thWilliam RandolphHenrico County1650169816981711
25thRobert CarterLancaster County1662/63169916991732
27thPeter BeverleyGloucester County1668 (ca.)170017051728
28thBenjamin Harrison IIICharles City County1673170517061710
17071709
27thPeter BeverleyGloucester County1668 (ca.)171017141728
29thDaniel McCartyWestmoreland County1679171517181724
17191719
30thJohn HollowayYork County 1720–22
Williamsburg 1723–26
York County 1728–34		1666 (ca.)172017341734
31stSir John RandolphWilliamsburg1693 (ca.)173417361737
17371737
32ndJohn Robinson Jr.King and Queen County1705173817651766
33rdPeyton RandolphWilliamsburg1721176617751775

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Kukla, pp. 7–10.
  2. 1 2 3 Kukla, pp. 10–12.
  3. ↑ "Virginia Resolutions on Lord North's Conciliatory Proposal, 10 June 1775". Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  4. ↑ The Virginia House of Delegates numbers its speakers uniquely, rather than assigning an ordinal to each discrete term, as with U.S. President Grover Cleveland. The House of Delegates convention is followed here.

References

Kukla, Jon (1981). Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1643–1776. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library. ISBN 0-88490-075-4.

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