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Sir Walter Raleigh Timeline

The famous Elizabethan courtier and explorer
Dates relating to his early life and family,
Establishing the Virginia colony of Roanoke Island
His imprisonment in the Tower of London and his famous writings
His execution

Why was Sir Walter Raleigh famous?
Sir Walter Raleigh was famous for establishing the Virginia colony of Roanoke Island and introducing tobacco and the potato to Europe. As a famous courtier in the court of Queen Elizabeth I where he was reputed to have placed his cloak over a puddle in order to prevent her from muddying her shoes.

Sir Walter Raleigh Timeline

  • Chronology of Life, Key Names, Key Dates, Key People and Key People in the Sir Walter Raleigh Timeline

1552

 

Short Biography of Sir Walter Raleigh
Date of Birth: Born in 1552
Place of Birth : Hayes Barton in Devonshire, England
Parents: Father - Walter Raleigh
             Mother: Katherine Gilbert (née Champernowne)
Background Facts, Information & Ancestry : From a Protestant family. His half brother was the famous explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert. He was also related to Sir Richard Grenville and Sir Francis Drake

1552

 

Date of actual birth is unknown. He was born in Hayes Barton in East Budleigh, Devonshire, England. He was initially educated by a home tutor

1567

 

The young Raleigh joined a troop of a hundred horse, raised by a family member called the Compte de Montgomerie

1572

 

August 24:   He witnesses the St Bartholomew's Day massacre where French Protestants were massacred by French Catholics in Paris

1574

 

Attended Oriel College, Oxford

1575

 

Became a member of the Middle Temple

1578

 

Walter Raleigh sails with his half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, to America

1579

 

Has an illegitimate daughter by a local woman called Alice Goold

1580

 

Raleigh helps to put down the Irish rebellion and becomes a favourite of Queen Elizabeth. and becomes extremely wealthy from lucrative wine monopolies he is granted by the Queen

1581

 

He founded the secret society called "The School of Night" which was closely related to the mysterious Rosicrucian movement

1584

 

March 25: Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America

June: Walter Raleigh's fleet of seven vessels under Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, with 108 men, reach Roanoke Island

June 4: Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Walter Raleigh

1585

 

January 6: Queen Elizabeth knights Walter Raleigh and makes him governor of the new territory discovered by Amadas and Barlowe. Raleigh names it "Virginia" in her honor

1586

 

Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir Walter Raleigh discover plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots (called the Babington Plot)

1587

 

July 22: Sir Walter Raleigh backs the first English Colony in North America (North Carolina) led by John White to the English Roanoke Colony

August 18: Virginia Dare born in Roanoke colony , the first English child born in North America

Became captain of the Queen's guard.

1588

 

Raleigh donated "Ark Royal" to the English navy to lead the English fleet against the Spanish Armada

Sir Walter Raleigh was responsible for the joint defence of Devon and Cornwall against the expected Spanish invasion

1589

 

:Sir Walter Raleigh & Sir Richard Grenville guard the sea approaches to Ireland

1592

 

Married Elizabeth (Bessie) Throckmorton incurring the wrath of Queen Elizabeth when she discovers that he has married one her ladies in waiting. Queen Elizabeth sends Sir Walter Raleigh to the Tower of London

He Is released when one of his ships brings back a huge treasure on the captured Spanish ship called the "Madre De Dios"

1593

 

Walter and Bessie have a son, also called Walter

1595

 

6 February: Sir Walter Raleigh leaves England to sail to the New World looking for the city of El Dorado

Sir Walter Raleigh fails to find the City of Gold but explores the Orinoco

1600

 

Appointment as governor of Jersey (one of the Channel Islands)

1603

 

24 March: Queen Elizabeth I dies and is succeeded by King James, the son of Mary Queen of Scots

King James, eager to make peace with the Spanish, imprisons him in the Tower of London on charges of treason

1604

 

Walter and Bessie have another son called Carew

1612

 

King James releases Raleigh, who promises to give King James a fortune if he allows him to return to Guiana

1616

 

He travels to Guiana but his mission fails and he attacks a Spanish settlement

1618

 

Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded for attacking the Spanish

Sir Walter Raleigh Timeline

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