Byrd, William

Byrd, William (1674–1744), Virginia planter, resided at Westover on the James River, and in 1737 had the city of Richmond laid out on his lands. His library of more than 4000 volumes was reputedly the largest in the English colonies, and his cultural interests resulted in his membership in the Royal Society. He was a colonial agent in England (1697–1705, 1715–26). His commission as a surveyor of the boundary line between North Carolina and Virginia is reported in his History of the Dividing Line, and other frontier expeditions are described in his Journey to the Land of Eden and Progress to the Mines, posthumously published journals found among his Westover Manuscripts. The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover (1941) and Another Secret Diary (1942) are later discovered accounts written in shorthand in the years 1709–12, 1739–41, as is The London Diary (1958) concerning part (1717–21) of his second residence in England. Written as an avocation of this urbane and witty gentleman, none of his accounts was intended for publication.