Christopher Lawne
English merchant and Puritan
Christopher Lawne (fl. 1590) was an English merchant and Puritan of note, who was among the earliest settlers in the Virginia Colony in the early 17th century. Born in Blandford, Dorset, he emigrated on his ship, the Marigold (or Mary Gold) in May 1618, and died in Virginia the following year.
Lawne established "Captain Lawne's Plantation" with 15-20 other Puritan colonists, including Ensign Thomas Washer. Lawne's Creek, on the south bank of the James in present-day Isle of Wight County, is named for Christopher Lawne. Lawne sat as a burgess in Governor George Yeardley's First General Assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Soon thereafter, Lawne fell ill and died that November. His will was witnessed by Nathaniel West (younger brother of Thomas West, Lord De La Warr), and surgeon Pharao Flynton.
Like many English Dissenters, Lawne initially left England for the Netherlands, drawn by its greater religious tolerance. He was an Elder among the Ancient Brethren of Francis Johnson's church. However, he eventually grew disenchanted with the often-fractious sect, and eventually returned to London.
“Christopher Lawne” enters the record as english merchant and Puritan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Christopher, Lawne and English can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5112705. VIAF identifies the subject as 24948297. The Library of Congress control number is nr93006820. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1590 and 1618.
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This entry incorporates text from “Christopher Lawne” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.