# Christopher Codrington
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Christopher_Codrington
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Christopher_Codrington.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Codrington
> Source revision: 1350477116
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{short description|English Army officer, planter and colonial administrator (1668–1710)}}
{{about|the English Army officer, planter and colonial administrator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Christopher Codrington
| image = Christopher-Codrington (cropped).jpg
| image_size = 220
| office = [Governor of the Leeward Islands](/source/List_of_governors_of_the_Leeward_Islands)
| monarch = [William III](/source/William_III_of_England) (1699–1702)
[Queen Anne](/source/Anne%2C_Queen_of_Great_Britain) (1702–1704)
| predecessor = [Christopher Codrington](/source/Christopher_Codrington_(colonial_administrator))
| successor = [John Johnson](/source/John_Johnson_(governor))
| term_start = 1699
| term_end = 1704
| birth_date = {{circa|1668}}
| birth_place = [Barbados](/source/Barbados)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1710|04|7|1668|06|15|df=y}}
| death_place = Barbados
| resting_place = [All Souls College, Oxford](/source/All_Souls_College%2C_Oxford)
| spouse = Mauldline Morange
| children = William Codrington
| alma_mater = [Christ Church, Oxford](/source/Christ_Church%2C_Oxford)
| occupation = Army officer, planter, colonial administrator
| allegiance = [England](/source/Kingdom_of_England)
| branch = [English Army](/source/English_Army)
| rank = [Lieutenant colonel](/source/Lieutenant_colonel_(United_Kingdom))
| unit = [1st Regiment of Foot Guards](/source/Grenadier_Guards)
| battles = {{tree list}}
* [Nine Years' War](/source/Nine_Years'_War)
** Attack on [Martinique](/source/Martinique)
** [Siege of Namur](/source/Siege_of_Namur_(1695))
* [War of the Spanish Succession](/source/War_of_the_Spanish_Succession)
** Capture of [Saint Kitts](/source/Saint_Kitts)
** [Siege of Guadeloupe](/source/Siege_of_Guadeloupe)
{{tree list/end}}
}}
[Lieutenant-Colonel](/source/Lieutenant_colonel_(United_Kingdom)) '''Christopher Codrington''' ({{circa|1668}} – 7 April 1710) was an [English Army](/source/English_Army) officer, planter and colonial administrator who served as [governor of the Leeward Islands](/source/List_of_governors_of_the_Leeward_Islands) from 1699 to 1704. Born on [Barbados](/source/Barbados) into the [planter class](/source/planter_class), he inherited one of the largest [sugar plantations](/source/Sugar_plantations_in_the_Caribbean) in the colony. Codrington travelled to Europe during the late-17th century and served in the [Nine Years' War](/source/Nine_Years'_War) and [War of the Spanish Succession](/source/War_of_the_Spanish_Succession), taking part in numerous engagements.
After dying in 1710, his [will and testament](/source/will_and_testament) established and endowed [Codrington College](/source/Codrington_College) with his estates in Barbados and [Barbuda](/source/Barbuda). Codrington's will also endowed the [Codrington Library](/source/All_Souls_College_Library) at [All Souls College, Oxford](/source/All_Souls_College%2C_Oxford) with a gift of books and money. In November 2020, his name was removed from the library as a result of the [George Floyd protests](/source/George_Floyd_protests) due to Codrington's ownership of [slaves](/source/Slavery_in_the_British_and_French_Caribbean).
==Early life==
Christopher Codrington was born in [Barbados](/source/Barbados) {{circa|1668}}, the eldest son of [Christopher Codrington](/source/Christopher_Codrington_(colonial_administrator)) and his wife Gertrude. The [Codrington Plantations](/source/Codrington_Plantations) were one of the largest in Barbados and the family was extremely wealthy. He had a younger brother, who suffered from mental disability.{{sfn|Parker|2011|p=186}} Codrington never married, although he had a natural mixed-race son, William, from a relationship with a Black woman named Mauldline Morange. William was left £500 in his father's will and became a plantation owner in the [colony of Jamaica](/source/colony_of_Jamaica).{{sfn|Parker|2011|pp=189}}
==Career==
Later described by [Edmund Burke](/source/Edmund_Burke) as "by far ... the most distinguished ornament Barbados ever produced", Codrington was academically talented; educated in England, he studied at [Christ Church, Oxford](/source/Christ_Church%2C_Oxford), and was elected to All Souls College in 1690. Part of an intellectual circle that included [Charles Boyle](/source/Charles_Boyle%2C_4th_Earl_of_Orrery) and [Joseph Addison](/source/Joseph_Addison), he became known as an avid book collector.{{sfn|Parker|2011|pp=186–187}}
In 1693, he returned to the [West Indies](/source/West_Indies) to take part in an unsuccessful attack on the French possession of [Martinique](/source/Martinique), before serving in [Flanders](/source/Flanders) during the [Nine Years' War](/source/Nine_Years'_War). Having fought with distinction at [Huy](/source/Huy) and [Namur](/source/Siege_of_Namur_(1695)) in 1695, [William III](/source/William_III_of_England) gave him a commission as [captain](/source/captain) in the [English Army](/source/English_Army)'s [1st Regiment of Foot Guards](/source/Grenadier_Guards).{{sfn|Dalton|1896|p=66}} This was often a largely honorary post, since only 16 of the nominal 24 companies were actually formed; under the practice known as double-ranking, Guards officers held a second, higher army position and Codrington ranked as a [lieutenant colonel](/source/lieutenant_colonel).{{sfn|Springman|2008|p=11}}
His father died shortly after the [Peace of Ryswick](/source/Peace_of_Ryswick) ended the [Nine Years War](/source/Nine_Years_War) in 1697, and he was appointed [Governor of the Leeward Islands](/source/List_of_Governors_of_the_Leeward_Islands) in 1699. He became embroiled in a number of local disputes and accusations of abuse of power, which were investigated by [Parliament](/source/Parliament_of_Great_Britain). He was exonerated just before the [War of the Spanish Succession](/source/War_of_the_Spanish_Succession) began in 1702; after successfully retaking [Saint Kitts](/source/Saint_Kitts) from the French, he resigned after a failed attack on [Guadeloupe](/source/Siege_of_Guadeloupe) in 1703, which severely damaged his health. His attempts to re-enter politics proved unsuccessful and he spent the rest of his life in retirement on his Barbadian estates.{{sfn|Mandelbrote|2020}}{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
==Legacies==
[[File:Codrington College.jpg|thumb|[Codrington College](/source/Codrington_College), established by his will]]
After his death on 7 April 1710, Codrington's body was brought to England and buried on 19 June that year in All Souls Chapel; his will left £10,000 and £6,000 worth of books to endow the Christopher Codrington library in All Souls College, which includes his statue by [Sir Henry Cheere](/source/Sir_Henry_Cheere%2C_1st_Baronet). In January 2021, his name was removed from the library due to Codrington's ownership of [slaves](/source/Slavery_in_the_British_and_French_Caribbean), and a plaque was placed outside commemorating the enslaved workers who were held on his plantations.{{sfn|Shaw|2021}}
His other legacies included £1,500 for a monument to his father in [Westminster Abbey](/source/Westminster_Abbey), while the [Codrington Plantations](/source/Codrington_Plantations) and part of [Barbuda](/source/Barbuda) were left to the [Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts](/source/Society_for_the_Propagation_of_the_Gospel_in_Foreign_Parts) to establish a college in Barbados.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Delays caused by legal challenges meant that [Codrington College](/source/Codrington_College) was not completed until 1745, and was initially confined to white students.{{sfn|Mandelbrote|2020}} It remains an [Anglican](/source/Anglicanism) theological school and is now part of the [University of the West Indies](/source/University_of_the_West_Indies).{{sfn|Codrington College}} The [Codrington School](/source/Codrington_School_(Barbados)), first established in 1917 before closing in the 1990s, was reopened in 2002 as an [International Baccalaureate](/source/International_Baccalaureate) school.{{sfn|The Codrington School}}
The [Codrington baronets](/source/Codrington_baronets) retained ownership of [Betty's Hope](/source/Betty's_Hope) plantation in [Antigua](/source/Antigua) until 1944.[{{cite web |url=http://www.antigua-barbuda.com/news_archive/pdf/newsletter131.pdf |date=January–February 2009 |title=Newsletter No. 131 |publisher=The Antigua & Barbuda High Commission |access-date=4 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726164147/http://www.antigua-barbuda.com/news_archive/pdf/newsletter131.pdf |archive-date=26 July 2011 }}]
==See also==
*[James Weatherhill](/source/James_Weatherhill), a pirate whom Codrington was accused of colluding with and assisting
==Citations==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Codrington, Christopher|volume=6|page=636}}
* {{cite web |title=Codrington College |url=http://www.codrington.org/site/index.php |website=Codrington.org |access-date=14 January 2021 |ref={{sfnref|Codrington College}}}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dalton |first1=Charles |title=English army lists and commission registers, 1661–1714, Volume IV |date=1896 |publisher=Eyre & Spottiswoode}}
* {{cite odnb|id=5795|last=Mandelbrote|first=Scott|title=Codrington, Christopher (1668–1710)|year=2020}}
* {{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Mathew |title=The Sugar Barons; Family, Corruption, Empire and War |date=2011 |publisher=Windmill Books |isbn=978-0099558453}}
* {{cite news |last1=Shaw |first1=Annie |title=Oxford University's All Souls College drops Christopher Codrington's name from its library |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/oxford-university-s-all-souls-college-drops-christopher-codrington-s-name-from-its-library-but-refuses-to-remove-slave-owner-s-statue |access-date=14 January 2021 |work=The Art Newspaper |date=6 January 2021}}
* {{cite book |last1=Springman |first1=Michael |title=The Guards Brigade in the Crimea |date=2008 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1844156788 |edition=2014}}
* {{cite web |title=The Codrington School; International School of Barbados |url=http://codrington.edu.bb |website=The Codrington School |access-date=14 January 2021 |ref={{sfnref|The Codrington School}}}}
{{Authority control}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{succession box
| title = [Governor of the Leeward Islands](/source/List_of_governors_of_the_Leeward_Islands)
| before = [Christopher Codrington](/source/Christopher_Codrington_(colonial_administrator))
| after = [John Johnson](/source/John_Johnson_(governor))
| years = 1699 – 1704}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Codrington, Christopher}}
Category:1660s births
Category:1710 deaths
Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Category:British military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession
Category:Barbadian slave owners
Christopher
Category:18th-century Barbadian people
Category:Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
Category:Grenadier Guards officers
Category:Governors of the Leeward Islands
Category:Owners of plantations in the British West Indies
Category:Sugar plantation owners
Category:Colonial officials for the Kingdom of England
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Christopher Codrington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Codrington) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Codrington?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.