Edward Wingfield

Edward Maria Wingfield (1550-16??) was a soldier, Member of Parliament, (1593) and English colonist in at Jamestown. However, it his encounter with the native creatures of North America in the year 1610 that he is most remembered for.

Wingfield was one of the early and prime movers and organizers in 1602-1603 in the Virginia Venture moving: he was one of the four incorporators for the London or Jamestown Colony of the Virginia Charter of 1606 and one of the biggest financial backers of the Virginia Company. He recruited (with his cousin, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold) about 40 of the 105 would-be colonists, and was the only adventurer (one risking his means) to sail.

Upon the establishment of Jamestown, the colonists discovered that the region was the habitat of sims. While the Spanish had encountered sims during their explorations of South America, and had even brought sims back to Europe, the creatures were still an uknown quantity. Moreover, the sims initially perceived their more evolved cousins as possible prey. In early encounters, many colonists were killed, including Wingfield's friend, Captain John Smith, in 1607.

Despite the threat of the sims, and the ongoing battle to simply feed itself (the colonists were unfamiliar with native fauna, so grains had to be shipped from England) Jamestown managed to survive. Wingfield became an important figure in Jamestown as a hunter. When women were brought to the colony, Wingfield took a wife, Joanna.

Wingfield's stance on the sims was uncertain through his first years at Jamestown.