Person:Francis Moryson (1)

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Francis Moryson (bef. 1628–1680/81) was an English soldier and Virginia colonial official. He was a Royalist in the English Civil War.

Moryson was the son of Sir Richard Moryson and his wife Elizabeth Harrington daughter of Sir Henry Harrington.

Moryson emigrated to Virginia in 1649, surviving a shipwreck en route. He served as Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1656, and was on Governor Sir William Berkeley's Council 1660–63. He was named acting governor in Berkeley's absence 1661–62. He returned to his home in Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire in 1663, acting as an English agent for the colony. His last trip to Virginia was in 1677, when he served on a royal commission investigating Bacon's Rebellion.

Moryson, Francis, deputy governor of Virginia from April 30, 1661, to the fall of 1662, was a son of Sir Richard Moryson, who was secretary of state to King James I. He served in King Charles' army with the rank of major and he embarked from London with his fellow loyalists, Colonel Henry Norwood, Major Richard Fox and major Francis Cary, for Virginia, September 23, 1649, and arrived in Virginia the November following. Driven by a storm, their ship found itself on June 12, 1650, among the islands of Assateague Bay, on the Atlantic coast of Virginia. Upon one of these Colonel Moryson landed with several of his companions, and after various experiences in Accomac crossed over to the main shore and was kindly received by Sir William Berkeley, who gave him the command of the fort at Point Comfort. In 1655 he was speaker of the house of burgesses, and when Governor Berkeley visited England in 1662, Moryson acted as governor till sometime in the fall of the following year. The memory of his service as chief executive is marked by his gift of a splendid service of church plate to the church at Jamestown, which is preserved by the church in Williamsburg. After the return of Berkeley, Moryson was sent as agent to England at an annual salary of £200 to protest against a grant of the Northern Neck to several court favorites. He remained as agent in England till 1677, when he returned to Virginia as one of a commission to enquire into the disturbances known as Bacon's rebellion. The commissioners held court at Swann's Point, over against Jamestown, which had been destroyed. Their report was a very full account of this interesting episode in Virginia history, and the finding was very much against Governor Berkeley. Moryson soon after returned to England, and died there not long after. He left a widow Cecilia, sister of Giles Rawlins, and a son Henry, who in 1699 was colonel to the Colstream Foot Guards. Colonel Moryson was preceded to Virginia by his two brothers — Richard and Robert Moryson, who also commanded at Point Comfort, and after Major Moryson, held commission about 1664. His sister, Letitia Moryson, was wife of the noble cavalier, Lucius Cary, Lord Falkland.