News

.... a weekly column from Michael Howard MP

8 February 2007

 

On Monday morning I attended one of the regular meetings of the Jamestown 2007 British Committee. This is the Committee that has been established to ensure the proper commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the founding of the first permanent English-speaking settlement in North America. Three English ships – the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery – arrived in Virginia on April 26, 2007 though they did not go ashore at Jamestown until May 14th. 

The ships had left London on December 19th, 1606 with their crews and 105 settlers on board. At that time only about 4 million people spoke English. Almost all of them lived in the British Isles. So the beginning of the spread of the English language across the world can truly be traced to the heroic voyage of these three ships. 

As might be expected the voyagers experienced many vicissitudes. Only two weeks after leaving what is now the Isle of Dogs the ships were stormbound off the coat of Kent for a month. The experience almost brought the expedition to an end. But thanks to the example of the Rev Robert Hunt they persevered and reached their goal. 

Kent County Council have become involved with the commemoration event to great effect, establishing a relationship with Virginia which is likely to be of long term benefit to both. The Governor of Virginia and other representatives of the Commonwealth (along with Massachusetts, Virginia is still a Commonwealth rather than a State) visited Kent to celebrate the anniversary of the sailing in December and the Queen and Prince Philips, as well as representatives of Kent will visit Virginia to celebrate the anniversary of the colony. 

The Committee has done, and is doing, useful work to strengthen these links and I am pleased to have been able to play a small part in its work.