The man who is particularly supportive of Yeardley’s appointment as Governor of Virginia is Sir Edwin Sandys. A Fellow of Corpus Christi Oxford 1580, Member of Parliament 1586, 89 and 93; knighted 1603; Member of the Council for the Virginia Company 1615, he is now elected its Treasurer on April 28 this year. He is also organiser of the Colony’s government. The man he replaces as Treasurer in London is Sir Thomas Smythe  (see 1605 and 1614 panels) who he personally suspects of embezzling Company funds but can prove nothing. Apart from this, the two men differ greatly in their views on the management of Jamestown.

Smythe is still convinced that the Company’s mission is to trade and make a profit. Sandy’s vision, on the other hand, is to move forward in populating the Colony and earn a protective status for tobacco, which has become the cash crop in Virginia.

His goal is a permanent colony, which will enlarge British territory, relieve England’s over-population and expand the market for British goods. Sandy’s views prevail and well over 1,000 new settlers reach Virginia during this year.

King James is flattered and delighted with the Lytes, father and son. The family home is Lytes Cary in Somerset. Henry Lyte, the father, now dead, was a noted herbalist and his excellent Herbal has been reprinted this year. He was also interested in genealogy and accepted Geoffrey of Monmouth’s legend that the British race is descended from Brutus the Trojan. Brutus was supposed to have landed on the shores of Devon (the Brutus stone still stands in Totnes High Street). Lyte then published a ‘pedigree’ of the Kings of England and Scotland, showing their descent from the mythical King Brutus and presented it to Queen Elizabeth. Now, years on, James is on the throne. Henry’s son Thomas has updated it to include James and shows it to him, who as pictured, is delighted. However, the experts on pedigrees, the College of Arms, are not. They know it’s rubbish. Look at the Herald – he’s wild.

Lytes Cary is now a property of the National Trust and the beautiful house and gardens are open for visitors during part of the year. The butterfly hovering nearby is the male Grayling (Hipparchia semele).