Lt. Matthew Scrivener (bap. 1580/1 – ) was an English colonist in Virginia. He served briefly as acting governor of Jamestown, and was succeeded by Captain John Smith. He died by drowning in the James River.
Life Scrivener was the son of Ralph (or Rauff) Scrivener of Ipswich and of Belstead, in Suffolk, England, a barrister and city bailiff. Scrivener most likely hailed from Coddenham, where his family had a manor.Gookin, Warner F. “The First Leaders at Jamestown.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 58, no. 2, 1950, pp. 181–93. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4245691. Accessed January 16, 2025. Matthew was baptized into the Church of England at St Nicholas' Church, Ipswich, on March 3, 1580/81 (O.S./N.S.).“Mathew Scrivener” in Suffolk, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1850, ancestry.com, accessed July 18, 2022 The Scrivener family was familiar with Bartholomew Gosnold, who had traveled to Virginia with the original colonist ships in 1607. Before departing England, Scrivener was appointed by the Virginia Company of London as a council member to assist the new colony. and arrived in Virginia in 1608 on a first supply ship.WINGFIELD, Edward Maria, and DEANE, Charles. "A Discourse of Virginia," ... Edited, with notes and an introduction, by C. Deane. (From the American Antiquarian Society's Transactions, Vol. IV.) L.P.. United States, n.p, 1860. Listed as "Matthew Scrivener, gentleman" in early Virginia records, his sister was married to the cousin of the first President of the Council of Jamestown, Edward Maria Wingfield.Augustine Page, Joshua Page, A supplement to The Suffolk Traveller (Ipswich, 1844), p. 595
President of the Governor's Council Scrivener was an ally of Councilor John Smith. When John Ratcliffe was "ousted" (or pressured to leave) by Smith and Scrivener in July 1608, Scrivener acted as a president of the Governor's Council until September 1608. Smith was elected president ("chief counselor") in September, Scrivener stayed as a Councilor and secretary. When John Smith was absent on river explorations, Scrivener acted as president.
Death In January 1609/10 (O.S./N.S.), Scrivener and ten men (including at least four Council members) took a skiff to hunt along the James River.Doherty, Kieran. To Conquer is to Live: The Life of Captain John Smith of Jamestown. United States, Twenty-First Century Books, 2001. Near Hog Island a storm capsized the boat, dumping all into the cold river. As most English could not swim at the time, Scrivener and eight other colonists drowned, half of them members of the governing Council, including Bartholomew Gosnold's brother, Anthony.
A year after Scrivener's death by drowning, his brother John Scrivener in England purchased Sibton Abbey in Suffolk, where Scrivener family descendants still live today.Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain (London, 1863).
References
Further reading Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America, Giles Milton, Macmillan, New York, 2001
External links The Second Charter of Virginia, May 23, 1609 (names Matthew Screvener, Gent.), The Avalon Project, Yale Law School Library