James Oglethorpe
Founder of Georgia
James Oglethorpe
• Born Dec 22, 1696 in
London, England
• Feb 1, 1733 Oglethorpe
and fellow settlers arrive
at the site of modern day
Savannah.
• Died June 30, 1785 in
Cranham Hall, England
Life in England
• In 1714, Oglethorpe was
admitted to Corpus
Christi College at Oxford
University.
• 1722- He ran for
Parliament and won. He
occupied a seat in the
House of Commons.
Need for Change
• In 1729 Oglethorpe’s life changed.
• A close friend of his, Robert Castell, was put in
London’s Fleet Prison because of his debts. Prisoners
were required to pay fees for decent room and board,
but his friend was unable to pay.
• Castell died while in prison from a disease. This led
Oglethorpe to launch a national campaign to reform
England’s prisons.
Prisons
• After Oglethorpe investigated the prisons, steps were
taken to reform the prisons.
• However, prison reform did not change that debtors
were put in jail for the lack of money.
• Oglethorpe with the help of John Lord Viscount
Percival and others started to explore the chances of
creating a new colony in America.
Georgia’s Founding
• In 1732, King George II
granted Oglethorpe a
charter to colonize land
located south of the
South Carolina colony.
• However, Spain and
Britain both claimed the
land, nut neither had
people living there at the
time.
First Settlement
• Oglethorpe arrived on Savannah’s coast on February
12, 1733 and after receiving permission from
Tomochichi, he built the first settlement of Savannah.
• He established good relations with Native Americans
and bought the land for Savannah from them.
• Oglethorpe named the new colony after King George
II.
• Oglethorpe was in Georgia from 1733-1736. He was
give the rank of colonel and an army to defend the
colony from Spain.
Invasion of the New Colony
• War broke out between Spain and Britain in 1739.
• Oglethorpe planned to protect Georgia from the
Spanish forces in Florida, so he led an attack on St.
Augustine, but failed to capture it.
• In 1742, Spanish forces retaliate and Oglethorpe fought
back a Spanish invasion on Fort Federica. This battle
came to be known as the Battle of Bloody Marsh.
• Oglethorpe was then promoted to brigadier general in
the British Army.
• Oglethorpe then returned to England in 1743.
Return to Britain
• When Oglethorpe returned to Britain he again served
in Parliament for 32 years, married Elizabeth Wright in
September 1744, and settled at Cranham Hall.
• In 1753 Georgia’s charter expired and control switched
to the king.
• Oglethorpe enjoyed seeing his colony become part of
the United States of America in 1776.
Georgians still remember Oglethorpe
• Oglethorpe’s presence in
our state is still here.
• Oglethorpe County was
named after him, so were
two towns; Oglethorpe
and Oglethorpe
University.
• Also there are many
schools, streets, parks,
and business name after
the founder of Georgia.
Remember: Oglethorpe
• Oglethorpe started our colony because he
believed that debtors needed a better place to
live than the jails in London.
• Georgia gave them an opportunity to strive to
have a better life.
• Oglethorpe was a caring man that changed the
lives of many others by his actions.
References
• http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/people/oglethorp
e.html
• http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/ogle
thorpe.htm
• http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/biogra
phies/oglethorpe/
• http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Articl
e.jsp?id=h-1058&sug=y