Search
  
 
MilitaryGovernance
borndied
1696, Dec 221785, Jun 30
a British general, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia. As a social reformer, he hoped to resettle Britain's worthy poor in the New World, initially focusing on those in debtors' prisons. In 1728, three years before conceiving the Georgia colony, Oglethorpe chaired a Parliamentary committee on prison reform. The committee documented horrendous abuses in three debtors' prisons. As a result of the committee's actions, many debtors were released from prison with no means of support. Oglethorpe viewed this as part of the larger problem of urbanisation, which was depleting the countryside of productively employed people and depositing them in cities, particularly London, where they often became impoverished or resorted to criminal activity.
 Gallery (1)

Thumbnail
 Timeline (3)
06/09/1732-Royal charter for Georgia granted to James Oglethorpe
01/13/1733-James Oglethorpe and 130 English colonists arrive at Charleston, SC
02/12/1733-Georgia founded by James Oglethorpe, at site of Savannah
Colonial Sense is an advocate for global consumer privacy rights, protection and security.
All material on this website © copyright 2009-25 by Colonial Sense, except where otherwise indicated.
ref:T5-S50-P1196-CPerson-M