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Authorised form of nameByrd; William (1674 - 1744); American colonial diarist
Dates1674 - 1744
NationalityBritish
Place of birthHenrico County, Virginia, British America
Date of birth28 March 1674
Place of deathWestover, Virginia, British America
Date of death26 August 1744
DatesAndPlacesBurial: Westover Plantation, Virginia, British America
OccupationColonial planter, diarist, and statesman
Research fieldNatural history
ActivityEducation:
Educated in England at Christopher Glasscock's School (1684); Middle Temple (admitted 1692)
Career:
Travelled to Holland (1690); returned to Virginia (1692); Member of the House of Burgesses (1692); returned to England; called to the Bar (1695); Agent for Virginia in London (1698); returned to Virginia on the death of his father to manage his estates(1704); Receiver General of Virginia (1706); Member of the Council of State (1709); one of the Commissioners to run the dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina (1728); surveyed the bounds of the Northern Neck (1736); President of the Council (1743)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election29/04/1696
Age at election22
RSActivityRoyal Society roles:
Council: 1697, 1698-1700, 1702
RelationshipsParents: William Byrd of Virginia, an Indian trader and importer of enslaved people, and Mary, daughter of Warham Horsmanden, a Royalist refugee.
Siblings: Elizabeth Mary Moss; Jane Baugh; Martha Ann Winn; Susan Brayne; John Byrd; Anne Ursula Beverley; Mary Elizabeth Duke and Maurice Warsham Byrd.
Spouse: Lucy, daughter of General Daniel Parke; 2) Maria, daughter of Thomas Taylor of Kensington
Children: Evelyn Byrd; Elizabeth Dejarnette; Parke Byrd; Philips William Byrd; Wilhelmina Chamberlayne; Ann Gathright; Anne Carter; Maria Taylor Carter (Byrd); Colonel William Evelyn Byrd, III; Jane Page and Unknown Byrd
PublishedWorksRCN 31374
RCN R64295
RCN 31372
RCN 31373
RCN 31371
OtherInfoPortrayed colonial life on the southern British plantations.
Considered the founder of Richmond, Virginia.
During his lifetime he accumulated over 179,000 acres of land and was considered to be vastly wealthy.
His nickname was the 'Black Swan', perhaps an allusion to birds that he introduced at Westover Plantation.
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DAB; Hunter; MT
References:
John H Appleby, 'Ginseng and the Royal Society' in NR 1982-83 vol 37 pp 121-145
Notes:
MT gives father as William Byrd of the parish of St Katherine Cree, London
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/71428126
CodeNA8157
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
RBO/7/67Account of a black boy who developed white spots on his skin by William Byrdnd
CLP/14i/44Paper, 'An account of a negro-boy [sic] that is spotted in severall places of his body with white spotts' by Wm [William] Byrd[1697]
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