David Kirke

Sir David Kirke (ca. 1597-1654) was an English adventurer, colonizer and governor. Kirke was raised at English occupied Dieppe. He captured Tadoussac in 1628 with his borthers and demanded that Champlain surrender Quebec to the English. When his demand was refused he caputured a French supply fleet near Gaspé.

Kirke returned in 1629 and received the French surrender of Quebec but were ordered to return the colony to the French in 1632. As a consolation, Kirke was given a royal charter making him Proprietary Governor of the entire island of Newfoundland superseding an earlier charter that granted the Avalon Peninsula of the island to Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore.

Kirke took possession of Ferryland ejecting William Hill, who had been proprietary governor on behalf of Cecil Calvert who had succeeded as Lord Baltimore on the death of his father. Kirke came into conflict with migratory fishermen and was recalled to England in 1651. Calvert, meanwhile, went to court to challenge Kirke's charter and his seizure of the Province of Avalon and Kirke was imprionsed and died in jail.