Sir Henry Chicheley

Sir Henry Chicheley (b. 1614 or 1615 – d. February 5, 1683) was a lieutenant governor of Virginia Colony who also served as Acting Governor during multiple periods in the aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion. Having first visited the Virginia colony as a Royalist in exile, where he served in the House of Burgesses in violation of his probation, Lt. Gov. Chicheley wielded power during a period of sociopolitical turmoil and change, and later in his career was increasingly troubled by England's growing aggression and control over the colony. Early life and education Chicheley was born in either 1614 or 1615 to Dorothy, the wife of Sir Thomas Chicheley of Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire, England. His name honors Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury and founder of All Souls College, Oxford, from whom he is descended. He received a Bachelor's degree from University College, University of Oxford in 1635. Royalist Enlisting as a Royalist of the Royal English Army during the English Civil Wars, Chicheley attained the rank of lieutenant colonel before Charles I knighted him in 1644 for his loyalty to the Crown. Chicheley was detained in the Tower of London for alleged complicity in a plotted coup against the Parliament of England. In 1650, the Council of State paroled Chicheley and granted him permission to sail to Virginia so long as he did “nothing prejudicial to the State and present government thereof.”