The Gentlemen Adventurers

   The seventeen gentlemen of "good birth and qualitie"
who actually went to settle are listed in A Relation of
Maryland, a pamphlet published in London in 1635.
They were Leonard Calvert, Esq. (the Governor) and
Mr. George Calvert, Lord Baltimore's younger brothers;
Jerome Hawley, Esq., and Thomas Cornwallis, Esq.,
named commissioners with Leonard Calvert for the
voyage; Mr. Richard Gerard, son of Sir Thomas Gerard,
baronet; Messrs. Edward and Frederick Wintour, sons
of Lady Anne Wintour; Mr. John Saunders; Mr. Thomas
Green; Mr. Henry Wiseman, son of Sir Thomas Wise-
man; Mr. John Medcalf; Mr. Nicholas Ferfax; Mr.
John Baxter; Mr. Edward Cranfield; Mr. Thomas Dor-
rell; Captain John Hill; and Mr. William Saire. Lord
Baltimore himself had expected to lead the expedition,
but challenges to his charter forced him to remain in
England.

   Nothing is known about the background of the last
five men listed in the 1635 Relation, except that Dorrell
was Catholic.¹¹ Most is known about the first nine, six
of whom were the heaviest investors. Of these nine, all
were born gentlemen. All, except Jerome Hawley, were
younger sons, and all, except possibly John Saunders,
were Roman Catholic. Indeed none of the gentlemen in-
vestors who actually went to Maryland appear to have
been Protestant. Except for Hawley, they were men who
could not inherit any major share of the family fortune,
which in England went to the oldest son. Younger sons
received education but their portions of the family
estate were small and they were expected to make their
own way. Furthermore, Catholic younger sons faced