Thomas Rowley (fl. 16121628), explorer and pioneer, born

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, was one of the first settlers of John Guy's colony at

Cuper's Cove Cuper's Cove, on the southwest shore of Conception Bay on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula was an early English settlement in the New World, and the third one after Harbour Grace, Newfoundland (1583) and Jamestown, Virginia (1607) to endure for ...

Conception Bay Conception Bay (CB) is a bay on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The population (in 2011) of people living in municipalities (or unincorporated census subdivisions) located along the coast of Conception Bay was 90,490 making it ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

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. Rowley had accompanied John Guy on his expedition to Trinity Bay from Cuper's Cove in search of the

Beothuk The Beothuk ( or ; also spelled Beothuck) were a group of Indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous people of Canada who lived on the island of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland. The Beothuk culture formed around 1500 CE. This may have been ...

to make friendly relations with them for trade. In 1618 or 1619 both Rowley and William Hannam had entered into a partnership with Sir

Percival Willoughby Sir Percival Willoughby (died 23 August 1643) of Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire was a prominent land owner, businessman, and entrepreneur involved during his lifetime variously in mining, iron smelting, and glass making enterprises in Nottinghams ...

by accepting a grant to half his land as described from a line drawn from

Carbonear Carbonear is a town on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It overlooks the west side of Conception Bay and had a history long tied to fishing and shipbuilding. Since the late 20th century, its economy has changed to empha ...

to Heart's Content to include all land north of that line in exchange for development separate from the Cuper's Cove Colony. Disagreements with Hannam had delayed this plan but he did convince eight settlers from Cuper's Cove to settle Heart's Content in the winter of 1619. Then in 1620 he had abandoned the venture with Percival Willoughby citing he had not received legal title to the land. Rowley has been remembered in a poem by

Robert Hayman Robert Hayman (14 August 1575 – November 1629) was a poet, colonist and Proprietary Governor of Bristol's Hope colony in Newfoundland. Early life and education Hayman was born in Wolborough near Newton Abbot, Devon, the eldest of nine c ...

, governor of the Bristol plantation, when he wrote;

''my good friend Master Thomas Rowley who from the first plantation hath liv’d in Newfound-land, little to his profit.''

References

External links

Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation
Settlers of Newfoundland 17th-century Canadian people English emigrants to pre-Confederation Newfoundland {{Canada-bio-stub