David Kirke Sir David Kirke ( c . 1597 – 1654 ) was an adventurer , colonizer and governor for the king of England . He is best known for his successful capture of New France during the Thirty Years ' War , and his subsequent Governorship of lands in Newfoundland . A favourite of Charles I of England , the fall of the crown during the English Civil War led to his own downfall , and it is believed he died in prison . Early life . Kirke was the son of Gervase ( Jarvis ) Kirke , a wealthy London - based merchant , who had married a Huguenot woman , Elizabeth Goudon , and was raised in Dieppe , in Normandy . He was the eldest of five sons , followed by Lewis , Thomas , John and James . Quebec campaign . In 1627 Kirke ' s father and several London merchants formed the Company of Adventurers to Canada to encourage trade and settlement on the St . Lawrence River . When the 30 Years War broke out later that year , the company financed an expedition , which was commissioned by Charles I of England to displace the French from “ Canida . ” Accompanied by his brothers Lewis , Thomas , John , and James ( sometimes Jarvis ) , David Kirke set off with three ships , probably in company with a fleet bringing settlers to Sir William Alexander ’ s colonization attempt at Charlesfort in Acadia . Kirke may have stopped at Ferryland , the colony of George Calvert , 1st Baron Baltimore on the east coast of Newfoundland on the Avalon Peninsula . The force then sailed the Saint Lawrence River to Tadoussac . He seized one supply ship going to Quebec and then sent Basque fishermen to Samuel de Champlain demanding the surrender of the fortress town . Champlain rejected the demand because he was expecting relief from France , and Kirke decided against an attack . Kirke ' s ships turned back for England , but en - route they encountered the French supply fleet of four vessels under Admiral Claude Roquemont de Brison , capturing them after a short engagement . Having been born in France , this action was considered treason and the Kirke ' s were burned in effigy when the news reached Paris . A second invasion fleet , of six ships and three pinnaces , left Gravesend in March 1629 with Jacques Michel , a deserter from Champlain , acting as pilot on the river . Champlain sent a party from Quebec , now on the point of starvation , to meet an expected relief fleet under Émery de Caën , Unknown to Champlain , de Caën which also bringing word that peace had been declared in April by the Treaty of Susa . Although the party did meet de Caën in the Gulf , they were captured by the English on their way back to Quebec . Kirke , now aware of the desperate conditions at Quebec , sent Lewis and Thomas to demand their surrender . Champlain , having no alternative , surrendered on 19 July 1629 . Impressed with the achievement , Company of Adventurers applied for letters patent giving them the sole right to trade and settle in Canada along the St . Lawrence . Sir William Alexander complained that such a patent would infringe upon the land granted to him under the Great Seal of Scotland in February 1627 . The two groups compromised by joining forces ; Alexander would establish an Anglo - Scottish colony at Tadoussac , holding all the land within 10 leagues on both sides of the river , while the Company would have the right to free trade and use of the harbours . However , Champlain argued that the seizing of the lands was illegal as the war had already ended , and agitated for the return of the lands to France . As part of the ongoing negotiations of their exit from the Anglo - French War , in 1632 Charles agreed to return the lands in exchange for Louis XIII paying his wife ' s dowry . These terms were signed into law with the Treaty of Saint - Germain - en - Laye , and the lands in Quebec and Acadia returned to the Company of One Hundred Associates . As a consolation , Kirke was knight ed in 1633 . Governor of Newfoundland . It is believed that Kirke visited Ferryland as he published a report on the island of Newfoundland in 1635 . Kirke was impressed by the island ' s fisheries , and in 1637 he asked the king for a land grant . In November 1637 Kirke and his partners were granted a royal charter for co - proprietorship of the entire island . A portion of Newfoundland , the Avalon Peninsula , had already been granted to George Calvert , but he was accused of abandoning his colony before his death in 1632 and the lands given to Kirke . There were stipulations in the charter designed to reduce conflict with migratory fishermen ; there was to be no settlement within six miles of the shore , fishing rooms were not to be occupied before the arrival of the summer fishing crews , and a five per cent tax was to be collected on all fish products taken by foreigners . Kirke was installed as the Proprietary Governor , and arrived in 1638 with 100 colonists . The original governorship of the Avalon Peninsula had passed to Baltimore ' s son , Cecilius ( Cecil ) Calvert , who had installed William Hill as governor . Kirke seized the governor ' s mansion , then occupied by Hill . In January 1638 , the king also granted Kirke a coat of arms , “ For the greater honour and splendour of that Countrey and the people therein inhabiting … to be used in all such cases as Armes are won ' t to be by other nations and Countries . ” In 1639 , Kirke renamed the colony the Pool Plantation . Over the next several years , Kirke erected forts at Ferryland , St . John ’ s , and Bay de Verde , and collected tolls from all fishing vessels . Kirke was granted the rights to " the sole trade of the Newfoundland , the Fishing excepted " , and it was this later clause that caused considerable trouble . At the time the Grand Banks of Newfoundland were being fished by many European nations , and Kirke ' s 5 % tax gave the advantage to the English . A number of West Country merchants thrived on the fish trade . Represented in London by Kirke , Barkeley and Company ( with several of his brothers at the helm ) , Kirke used the land rights to support the fish trade , in conflict with the charter terms . By 1638 strong ties between Ferryland and Dartmouth , NS had already been set up , and the entire trade network south of St . John ' s was brought under a growing Kirke commercial empire . These moves led to considerable animosity with the West Country merchants . The planters and migratory fishermen agreed that Kirke was reserving the best fishing rooms for himself and his friends . In addition , he was accused of opening taverns , which were disruptive to the settlers ' work . But before these charges could be investigated , in 1642 the English Civil War broke out between the king and parliament . Arrest and death . The war ended in 1651 , and the Kirkes , as royalists , were on the losing side . Although the merchant ' s complaints were put aside during the war , the end of the war brought them forward again , and Kirke was no longer protected by the crown . In 1651 a team of six commissioners led by Maryland merchant John Treworgie were sent to Ferryland to seize Kirke and bring him to England to stand trial . His lands were acquired by the Commonwealth . Kirke was found not guilty and re - purchased the title to his lands in 1653 . His wife , Lady Sara Kirke , returned to Newfoundland to oversee his business and reclaim his property . However , fresh charges were brought against Kirke by Cecil Calvert over the title of the lands around Ferryland . Kirke is thought to have died awaiting trial in the original Southwark jail , The Clink , as early as January 1654 . Treworgie was granted governorship in 1653 , already in Ferryland at that time ( apparently never having left ) . The next year he and two other commissioners were arrested by James Kirke for holding position of lands rightfully owned by the Kirke ' s , and an unpaid debt of £1 , 100 . Treworgie maintained that Kirke ' s possessions had been returned to his wife , but was nonetheless found guilty in a first trial . A personal plea to Oliver Cromwell resulted in a second trial , and although the outcome is lost , it is assumed he was found not guilty as Treworgie continued to serve as governor until 1660 . In 1660 , Treworgie returned to England to ask for another term as governor and the six year ' s salary he claimed he was owed . He never returned to Newfoundland . Sara Kirke . The Restoration in 1660 re - opened the debate over the ownership of Avalon between the Kirkes and the Calverts . This time Cecil Calvert was successful in gaining the royal patent on Avalon , but he never took up residence . David Kirke ' s brother , now Sir Lewis Kirke , demanded compensation for improvements made at Ferryland by the Kirkes . Lady Kirke petitioned Charles II to make Lewis ' nephew George the governor of Newfoundland , an arrangement suggested by the Newfoundlanders themselves , but the king did not appoint any resident governor . Lady Kirke and her children were still in Ferryland in 1673 when a Dutch fleet sacked and burned the settlement . A decade later , in 1683 , Sir John Kirke , whose daughter had married Pierre - Esprit Radisson and who was himself a member of Prince Rupert ’ s Hudson ’ s Bay Company , asked the king for compensation for the losses incurred in the conquest of Canada in 1629 , claiming that the French had never paid for the return of the lands . The last known reference to George Kirke dates from 1680 , when he was proposed as a collector of the toll levied on all boats fishing in Newfoundland waters . Lady Sara Kirke managed the Pool Plantation at Ferryland throughout this period . Between 1651 and her retirement in 1679 , Sara and her sons developed a number of plantations at Ferryland and Renews . During raids by Dutch ships from New Amsterdam in 1665 and 1672 they lost property . As late as 1696 , three of Sir David Kirke ' s sons , George , David Jr . and Phillip , remained substantial planters on the Southern Shore . The Coat of Arms granted to Kirke was lost during the civil war . During the aftermath of World War I the Imperial War Graves Commission in Europe asked what arms should mark the graves of soldiers from Newfoundland . During the subsequent investigations , the Arms were rediscovered , and in 1928 they became the official Coat of Arms of Newfoundland and Labrador .