Ralph Wormeley

Ralph Wormeley (April 1745-January 19, 1806) was a Virginia planter who served as a member of the Governor's Advisory Council (1771-1775), was suspected of being a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War, and after the conflict represented Middlesex County, Virginia in the Virginia House of Delegates (1788-1791) as well as at the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788, where he voted in favor of ratification of the federal Constitution. Early and family life Born to the former Jane Bowles of Maryland at the Wormeley family's Rosegill plantation in 1745. His name honored not only his burgess father, as well as two paternal ancestors who had served on the colony's governor's council, Ralph Wormeley Sr. and Ralph Wormeley Jr. He received a private education locally as befit his class, then traveled to England when he was twelve to finish his education at Eton, then at Trinity Hall of Cambridge University, from which he graduated when he was 18. His sister Elizabeth (1737-1785) became the second wife of merchant Dudley Digges of Yorktown, who was a burgess and member of the colony's governor's council. Career After returning from England with a commission as Comptroller for the Rappahannock River port (collecting tobacco taxes), he began a mixed career of public offices and tobacco export, first assisting his father with the family's Rosegill plantation. He also became known for his literary tastes and socialized with the local gentry (including George Washington. In June 1771 Wormeley accepted an appointment to the Virginia Governor's Council, essentially the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly, and despite speaking against new taxation measures, remained until the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.