WILLIAM AND MARY, College of, the oldest seat
of learning, except Harvard college, in the
United States, near the city of Williamsburg, Va. An effort had been made as early as 1619 to establish a college at Henrico, near the present city of Richmond. An endowment of £1,500 and 15,000 acres of land was procured, but George Thorpe, who came from England to take the preliminary steps, and the settlers who accompanied him, were massacred in 1622, and the project was relinquished. In 1660-'61 the general assembly passed an act providing for the establishment and endowment of a college. In 1693 a charter for a college was obtained from England, through the efforts of the Rev. James Blair and of Nicholson, lieutenant governor of the colony. It took its name from the reigning king and queen, who appropriated lands, funds, a duty on tobacco, and the office of surveyor general of the colony, for its support. Buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren were soon erected, and Blair was appointed the first president.
The first college edifice was destroyed
by fire in 1705, and rebuilt shortly after. In
1691 Robert Boyle, the English philosopher, left his personal estate to trustees with the recommendation that it should be expended for “charitable and pious uses.” The trustees directed that the annual proceeds, excepting £90 to be given to Harvard college, should be paid to the college of William and Mary for the maintenance and education of Indian students. Prior to the revolution the college received liberal gifts from the general assembly and from individuals for the foundation of scholarships and other purposes. In 1770 it was the wealthiest college in America. The revolution deprived it of its richest chartered and other endowments, including the Boyle benefaction, and reduced its resources to $2,500 in money and the then unproductive land