List of colonial governors of Virginia in the context of "Langley, Virginia"

The House of Burgesses (/ˈbɜːr.dʒə.sɪz/) was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the House of Burgesses was an important feature of Virginian politics, alongside the Crown-appointed colonial governor and the Virginia Governor's Council, the upper house of the General Assembly.

When Virginia declared its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain during the Fifth Virginia Convention in 1776 and became the independent Commonwealth of Virginia, the House of Burgesses was transformed into the House of Delegates, which continues to serve as the lower house of the General Assembly.

Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native American Indians out of Virginia. Thousands of Virginians from all classes (including those in indentured servitude and slavery) and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, chasing him from Jamestown and ultimately torching the settlement. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists.

Government forces led by Herbert Jeffreys arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to be once more under direct Crown control. While the rebellion did not succeed in the initial goal of driving the Native Americans from Virginia, it did result in Berkeley being recalled to England, where he died shortly thereafter.

Sir William Berkeley (/ˈbɑːrkliː/; 1605 – 9 July 1677) was an English colonial administrator who served as the governor of Virginia from 1660 to 1677. One of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, as governor of Virginia he implemented policies that bred dissent among the colonists and sparked Bacon's Rebellion. A favourite of King Charles I, the king first granted him the governorship in 1642. Berkeley was unseated following the execution of Charles I, but his governorship was restored by King Charles II in 1660.

Charles II also named Berkeley one of the eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina, in recognition of his loyalty to the Stuarts during the English Civil War. As governor, Berkeley oversaw the implementation of a policy known as partus sequitur ventrem, which mandated that all babies born to enslaved parents take the legal status of their mother. As proprietor of Green Spring Plantation in James City County, he experimented with activities such as growing silkworms as part of his efforts to expand the tobacco-based economy. He also authored Discourse and View of Virginia, where he argued for diversifying the colony's tobacco economy.

Colonel Thomas Lee (c. 1690 – November 14, 1750) was a planter and politician in colonial Virginia, and a member of the Lee family, a political dynasty. Lee became involved in politics in 1710, serving in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, and also held important positions as Naval Officer for the Northern Potomac Region and agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary. After his father died, Lee inherited thousands of acres of land as well as enslaved people in then-vast Northumberland and Stafford Counties in Virginia as well as across the Potomac River in Charles County, Maryland. These properties were developed as tobacco plantations. Northumberland County was later subdivided, so some of Lee's properties were in present-day Fairfax, Fauquier, Prince William, and Loudoun counties and counties in the present-day Northern Neck of Virginia.

When Lee married Hannah Harrison Ludwell in 1722, he benefited from the connections of the already established Harrison family of Virginia. A year later, he would become a member of the House of Burgesses. Arson destroyed Lee's home, he used money from Caroline of Ansbach and Britain to build Stratford Hall overlooking the Potomac River. Four years later, in 1733, he was appointed to the Governor's Council, the upper house of the General Assembly. In 1747, he founded the Ohio Company of Virginia with fellow Virginian colonists who wished to expand Virginia's territory into the Ohio River Valley. For less than a year, in 1749 until his death in 1750, Lee served as the de facto royal governor of Virginia in place of the absent William Gooch.

The Governor's Council, also known as the Privy Council and Council of State, was the upper house of the legislature of the Colony of Virginia (the House of Burgesses being the other house). It also served as an advisory body to the royal governor and as the highest judicial body in the colony. Beginning in the 1630s, its 12 members were appointed by the British sovereign. After Virginia declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776, members were appointed by the General Assembly, and most of their powers were redistributed to the newly formed Senate of Virginia and the state's judiciary. The Council was formally abolished after delegates to the 1850 Virginia constitutional convention voted to enact what became known as the "Reform Constitution," which vested many of its remaining functions in the popularly elected offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General.

Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (/ˈdɛləwɛər/ DEL-ə-wair; 9 July 1576 – 7 June 1618) was an English colonial administrator for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named. A member of the House of Lords, from the death of his father in 1602 until his own death in 1618, he served as the governor of Virginia from 1610 to 1611.

There have been two creations of Baron De La Warr, and West came from the second. He was the son of Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr, of Wherwell Abbey in Hampshire, and Anne Knollys, daughter of Catherine Knollys; making him a great-grandson of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. He was born at Wherwell, Hampshire, England, and died at sea while travelling from England to Virginia. Counting from the original creation of the title, West would be the 12th Baron.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Herbert Jeffreys (c. 1620 – 17 December 1678) was an English army officer and colonial administrator who served as the acting governor of Virginia in the immediate aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion. American historian Douglas Edward Leach described Jeffreys as a "chief troubleshooter" and "the most active and expert guardsman in the political police function of the courtier army."