Warner was a captain in King James l's bodyguard. Whilst in the expedition of Capt. Roger North to Surinam in 1620, he made the acquaintance of Capt. Painton, an experienced seaman. who suggested to him the advisability of a settlement on one of the small islands, such as St. Christopher's, which were neglected by the Spaniards.
At the end of the year he returned to England with a view to finding out the means to carry out his project. Having obtained the support of Ralph Merrifield, a London merchant, and his Suffolk neighbour, Charles Jeaffreson, Warner, with his wife and son Edward, and 13 others, chiefly from Suffolk, sailed for the West Indies via Virginia.
Having rejected Barbados "for the great want of water", the expedition landed in St. Christopher on January 28, 1623. The suitability of a tobacco plantation was the motive cause. They were welcomed by the Carib chief Tegramund and allowed to make a settlement at Old Road, where water was in abundance.
On March 18, Jeaffreson arrived from England in the Hopewell, bringing men, provisions and timber and a stockade and protective fort were built. The first tobacco crop was most successful, but it was unfortunately all lost in a storm over the island.
Soon afterwards Warner went to England in the Black Bess, of Flushing, to obtain more recruits, returning to the island in the autumn of 1626, having been commissioned on September 13, 1625, King's Lieutenant for the four islands of St. Christopher, Nevis, Barbados and Montserrat.
On January 23, 1626, he was given a "letter of marque" to the Gift of God, 40 tons, owner R. Merrifield, Capt. Thomas Warner. Eventually the islands prospered, but after intermittent fighting. Warner was knighted for his efforts. He died in 1649. The ship on the stamps is an artist's impression of a ship of the period. SG261