Colonel Henry Bishop (often spelled Bishopp) was issued a patent on 20 October 1646 for 1,200 acres “on the south side of James River commonly called by the name of Lower Chipoak, being in the county of James City bounded as follows (viz’t) northerly upon James River, easterly upon Chipoaks Creeke, westerly upon Sunken Marsh and southerly upon the land of William Carter and William Newsum… “ 1 600 acres f escheated land had previously been assigned to him by Governor Berkeley and the other 600 acres were for transportation into Virginia of himself and 11 other persons.
This land was about five miles from John Bishop’s patents of 1638 and 1641 just upriver on Crouches Creek in what shortly became Surry County. (Note that Lower Chippoakes Creek lies about 18 miles downriver from Upper Chippoakes Creek.) This proximity to John Bishop naturally raises the question of whether the two men might have been related. Alas, there is no evidence at all that they even knew one another.
Henry Bishop spent only about two years in Virginia and had left even before the above patent was signed. When Virginia surrendered to Parliament, the General Assembly sent a document dated 17 March 1645/6 to England in the hands of “Henry Bishop, who formerly served the King, in these unhappy wars in England, but is now a member of our Colony, and actually engaged by plantation, and servants upon the place. His lands are in sequestration and we humbly pray that the sequestration may be taken off that he may be enabled to strengthen his plantation with people and supply those already seated there.” 2 Upon arrival in England, Henry Bishop took the oath on 20 June 1646 and his lands in Virginia and Henfield were restored in 1647.3 As far as we know, Bishop never returned to Virginia though he may have collected rents from his tenants.
William Martin, as attorney for “Collonell Henerye Bishopp now Liveinge in England”, sold the 700 acres of the patented land to John Grove on 8 January 1656/7.4. He had apparently already sold the rest of his patented land to Richard Nicholas, according to an order of the Virginia Assembly in 1655..5.
Henry Bishop (1605-1692) was born in Henfield, Sussex, England, the second son of Sir Thomas Bishop, the first Baronet of Parham, and his wife Jane Weston. He acquired the rank of Colonel for his service to the King during the Civil War, and refugeed to Virginia about 1644 to avoid persecution. When he returned to England in 1646 he managed to reconcile with Parliament. When Charles II resumed the throne in 1660, Henry Bishop purchased the post of Postmaster General. In that capacity he is remembered as the inventor of the postmark in 1661, which began the practice of recording the date on which a letter was received at a post office in order to discourage delays in delivery. He resigned his post in 1663 and returned to Henfield. He does not appear to have had children of his own, as his estate was inherited by a grand-nephew. He died on 19 March 1691/2 at the age of 86 according to his monument at St. Peter’s Church in Henfield.
- Virginia Patent Book 2, p81. See the records page for the details. [↩]
- Edward D. Neill, Virginia Carolorum (1886), p192. [↩]
- Parliamentary Archives: GB-061 records for June 1646 and June 1647. [↩]
- Surry County, Virginia Deed Book 1, p97. [↩]
- The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 8, No. 4 (April 1901), p390. [↩]