Sir Walter Raleigh

Continuing our series on Great British figures, we look at the life of Sir Walter Raleigh, whose rise and fall mirrors the tumultuous Elizabethan age in which he lived

- Sally Hales

Famous as a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, bringing potatoes and tobacco to these shores, patronising the arts and sailing off in search of El Dorado, Sir Walter Raleigh’s explorer-courtier legacy epitomises the Elizabethan age.

Born into a well-connected family near Budleigh Salterton in Devon in the middle of the 16th century, little is known about his early years, except that he was raised staunchly Protestant. As a teen, he headed to France to fight with the Huguenots, before attending Oxford and studying law at Middle Temple in the City of London.

The fascination with America that would define his legacy began in 1578, when he set out with his half-brother, explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert, to find the Northwest Passage, a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They failed, but Raleigh developed a trait that would to stay with him for life and lead to his demise. The voyage turned into a privateering foray against Spanish shipping, which went down badly with the queen’s advisers and, on his return, he was briefly imprisoned.