In the press of such demands the London Company passed away.

In 1609 under new letters patent was born the Virginia Company.
The members and shareholders in this corporation touch through and through the body of England at that day.

First names upon the roll come Robert Cecil, Thomas Howard, Henry Wriothesley, William Herbert, Henry Clinton, Richard Sackville, Thomas Cecil, Philip Herbert--Earls of Salisbury, Suffolk, Southampton, Pembroke, Lincoln, Dorset, Exeter, and Montgomery.

Then follow a dozen peers, the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, a hundred knights, many gentlemen, one hundred and ten merchants, certain physicians and clergymen, old soldiers of the Continental wars, sea-captains and mariners, and a small host of the unclassified.

In addition shares were taken by fifty-six London guilds or industrial companies.