EDWARD MARIA WINGFIELD ( c. 1560-c. 1614), English colonist in America, was born at Stoneley, Huntingdonshire, about 1560. He served as a soldier both in Ireland and the Low Countries, was one of the patentees of Virginia in 1606, and in 1607 accompanied the first colonists to Jamestown. He was elected president of the Council (15th May 1607), but his arbitrary manners, the fact that he was a Roman Catholic, and the suspicion that he was friendly toward Spain led to his deposition in September. He returned to England in April 1608, and died after 1613.
His amplified diary, entitled "A Discourse of Virginia," was published in Archaeologia Americana, vol. iv. (Worcester, 1860), with introduction and notes by Charles Deane.