George Calvert was born in Kipling, Yorkshire, in 1580. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1609 and was appointed secretary of state in 1619.
Calvert resigned office in 1625 and declared himself a Roman Catholic. He moved to his Irish estates and was granted the title, Lord Baltimore.
In 1628 Baltimore decided to create a safe haven in America for Catholics being persecuted for their religious beliefs in England. Calvert and his son, Leonard Calvert spent the summer in Newfoundland, Canada but a severe winter encouraged him to sail south in search of better land. He landed in Virginia but the English colonists rejected him and he went back to Ireland.
In 1632 Calvert sent Leonard Calvert and 300 settlers back to America. However, he died before his son established Maryland in 1633.
Calvert was granted a Royal Charter in 1623 and his land grant was extended from Ferryland to Petty Harbour and from Conception Bay to west of Placentia Bay and was named the Province of Avalon.
His service in that post was a failure, as he had failed in the attempt to negotiate a marriage between the Prince of Wales (the future King Charles I) and Maria, daughter of King Philip III of Spain.
However, in 1625 Calvert was granted the title of Lord Baltimore, of Baltimore Manor in County Longford, as a reward for his loyalty to the King and moved to his Irish estates.
Upon the death of Lord Cecil in 1613, Calvert was made clerk of the Privy Council.
Calvert, believing Spain would be the better friend or more formidable foe, favored the proposed marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales, with the Infanta Maria, daughter of Philip III, although the majority in Parliament were opposed to this union.
As a reward for faithful service the king granted him (in 1621) a manor of 2300 acres, in the county of Longford, Ireland, on the condition that all settlers "should be conformable in point of religion." Calvert, becoming a Catholic, in 1624, surrendered this manor, but received it again, with the religious clause omitted.
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