Oglethorpe, James

James Oglethorpe ( James Edward Oglethorpe ; December 22, 1696, Surrey - June 30, 1785, Essex) - British general, MP, founder of the Georgia colony. He is also known as a social reformer, the author of the plan for the resettlement of representatives of the poor in the UK, primarily prison prisoners, to the New World.

In 1714, he entered Corpus Christi Oxford College, but in the same year he joined the army of Eugene of Savoy , soon becoming his adjutant and distinguished himself in the campaign against the Turks in 1716-1718.

In 1722, he was elected to parliament, advocating the improvement of the living conditions of naval sailors on ships of the English fleet, as well as debt prisons, while at the same time actively promoting the idea of ​​founding new colonies on the North American continent that could be populated by the insolvent population of England and oppressed Protestants from the continental Of Europe. In 1728, he managed to pass a law on reform of debt prisons in parliament, and in 1730 he obtained permission on the basis of a new colony in America.

The first group of colonists, headed by Oglethorpe himself, went to the territory of the modern American state of Georgia in 1732, arriving at the territory of present-day South Carolina at the end of this year and establishing the first settlement in future Georgia on February 12, 1733, signing an agreement with the Indian tribe of the Yamakrava. On February 21, 1734, Oglethorpe founded the first Masonic lodge in Georgia (according to some reports, the first lodge in North America).

Between 1739 and 1742, Oglethorpe led British and allied Indian forces in a campaign against Spanish Florida, the former part of the Jenkins Ear War and, accordingly, the Austrian Succession War . He personally commanded the army during many successful raids on Spanish territory, defended the fort of Frederick, but in 1740 failed to take the fort of San Augustine. He is often regarded by modern historians as a poor military leader, however, when in 1742 the Spaniards invaded Georgia from Florida, and Oglethorpe managed to defeat their troops at the Battle of Blood Marsh, he became a hero in England and, returning to his homeland a year later, became regularly receive promotions; he continued his career in parliament and at the same time was organizing a set of troops to be sent to Georgia in order to protect it from the Spaniards.

In 1745, he participated in the suppression of the Second Jacobite Uprising and, in particular, in the persecution of the Shap rebels, but due to bad weather interrupted the persecution for one night, so the Jacobites were able to escape to Scotland. For this act, Oglethorpe was put on trial; as a result, he was acquitted and even awarded the rank of general, but was never again given command of the troops.

A few months before his death in 1785, he took a trip to the independent United States of America as the first British envoy.