Sir Ferdinando Gorges
Gorges, Sir Ferdinando (1566?–1647), an English soldier and colonizer. He founded the colony of Maine and was influential in promoting settlement of New England, though he never actually went there.
Gorges was born in Somersetshire, England. In 1606 he helped to form the Plymouth Company, which was chartered to establish colonies in North America. In 1620 the Council granted to Gorges and his associate land that encompassed most of present-day Maine and New Hampshire. In 1639 Gorges was named lord proprietor of Maine by King Charles I. However, his plans to develop the province of New Somerset, as he called Maine, went unfulfilled. Soon after the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, Gorges, who supported the king, was imprisoned and deprived of his possessions.