Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore

Lord Baltimore, as Cecil now was, received a Charter from King Charles I for the new colony of Maryland, to be named for the Queen Consort, Henrietta Maria (wife of King Charles I). This was shortly after the death, in April 1632, of his father, George who had long sought the charter to found a colony in the mid-Atlantic area to serve as a refuge for English Roman Catholics. The original grant would have included the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay as far south as the Potomac River and the entirety of the eastern shore (later known as the Delmarva peninsula).

When the Crown realised that settlers from Virginia had already crossed the bay to begin settling the southern tip of their eastern shore, the grant was revised to include the eastern shore only as far south as a line drawn east from the mouth of the Potomac River (including the future State of Delaware). Once that alteration was made, the final charter was confirmed on 20 June 1632. This charter would be heavily contested by the 2nd Lord Baltimore's heirs and the Penn family in the Penn–Calvert Boundary Dispute.

Baltimore's fee for the Charter, which was legally a rental of the land from the King, was one-fifth of all gold and silver found and the delivery of two Native American arrows to the royal castle at Windsor every Easter.[6] The Charter established Maryland as a palatinate, giving Baltimore and his descendants rights nearly equal to those of an independent state, including the rights to wage war, collect taxes and establish a colonial nobility.[7] In questions of interpretation of rights, the Charter would be interpreted in favour of the proprietor.[8]

Supporters in England of the Virginia colony opposed the Charter, as they had little interest in having a competing colony to the north.[9] Rather than going to the colony himself, Baltimore stayed behind in England to deal with the political threat and sent his next younger brother Leonard in his stead. He never travelled to Maryland.[9]

While the expedition was being prepared, Baltimore was busy in England defending the 1632 Charter from former members of the Virginia Company. They were trying to regain their original Charter, including the entirety of the new Maryland colony, which had previously been included within the domains described as a part of Virginia.[10] They had informally tried to thwart the founding of another colony for years, but their first formal complaint was lodged with the "Lords of Foreign Plantations" (Lords of Trade and Plantations) in July 1633.[10] The complaint claimed that Maryland had not truly been unsettled, as stated in its charter, because William Claiborne had previously run a trading station on Kent Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay off the eastern shore.[10] It also claimed that the Charter was so broad as to constitute a violation of the liberties of the colony's subjects. At this point, there were few Marylanders yet in residence.[11]

Modern reconstruction of Dove, one of the two ships that carried settlers to plant Lord Baltimore's first settlement in Maryland in 1634.

The first expedition consisted of two ships that had formerly belonged to Baltimore's father George, Ark and Dove.[12] They departed from Gravesend in Kent with 128 settlers on board. They were chased and forced to return by the British Royal Navy so that the settlers would take an oath of allegiance to the King as required by law. They then sailed in October 1632 for the Isle of Wight to pick up more settlers.[12] There, two Jesuit priests (including Father Andrew White) and nearly 200 more settlers boarded before the ships set out across the Atlantic Ocean.[13]

Baltimore sent detailed instructions for the governance of the colony. He directed his brother to seek information about those who had tried to thwart the colony and to contact William Claiborne to determine his intentions for the trading station on Kent Island.[14] He also emphasised the importance of religious toleration among the colonists, who numbered nearly equally Catholic and Protestant.[14]

Leonard Calvert, Lord Baltimore's younger brother and the first governor of the Maryland colony.

With these last instructions, the expedition crossed the Atlantic and sailed through Cape Charles (headland) and Cape Henry into the large harbour and lower bay called Hampton Roads at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the James River. After meeting with the Virginians at their colony and capital of Jamestown, they continued up the Bay to the Potomac River, then further upstream and landed on 25 March 1634 at Blakistone Island (later called St. Clement's Island). There they erected a cross and celebrated their first Mass with Father White. Several days later, they returned downstream and founded the first settlement at St. Mary's City (in the future St. Mary's County), on 27 March 1634, on land purchased from the native Yaocomico tribe, a branch of the Piscataway Indians.[15]

From England, Baltimore tried to manage the political relations with the Crown and other parts of government. Claiborne, the trader on Kent Island, resisted the new settlement and conducted some naval skirmishes against it.[16]

Calvert attempted to stay closely involved in the governance of the colony, though he never visited it. During his long tenure, he governed through deputies: the first was his younger brother Leonard Calvert (1606–1647),[17] and the last was his only son Charles.

In 1904, the arms were adopted as the official state Flag of Maryland. It is the only US state flag to be based on British and Irish heraldry.[30][31]

The 2nd Baron Baltimore is portrayed on the 1934 Maryland Tercentenary half dollar, designed by Hans Schuler

Numerous place names honour the Barons Baltimore, including the counties of Baltimore, Calvert, Cecil, Charles, and Frederick.

Cities which include variations of the Calvert and Lord Baltimore's name

• City of Baltimore
• Leonardtown
• St. Leonard
• Calvert Cliffs
• Anne Arundel County (Anne Arundel's original spelling of her name is preserved in the name of the county's heritage organisation – "Ann Arundell County Historical Society")

Street names

• Cecil Avenue
• Calvert Street
• Charles Street in Baltimore
• Calvert Street in Brooklyn neighbourhood of South Baltimore
• Calvert Street in Washington
• Baltimore Avenue in Ocean City, Maryland
• Baltimore Street in Cumberland, Maryland
• Baltimore Street in La Plata, Maryland
• Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard (Maryland Route 648)
• Baltimore–Washington Parkway
• Lord Baltimore Drive in Owings, Maryland
• Lord Cecil Drive in Owings, Maryland

A 1908 statue of Cecil, Lord Baltimore, for which Francis X. Bushman served as sculptor's model,[32] stands on the steps at the west entrance of the Circuit Courthouse of Baltimore City (built 1896–1900 – renamed the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse in the 1980s) facing Saint Paul Street and a small Court Plaza with a fountain. It is the site of annual "Maryland Day" (25 March) ceremonies which continue inside the elaborate lobby and ceremonial courtrooms.

Harford County is named for Henry Harford, the illegitimate son of Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore. Although precluded by his birth status from inheriting the peerage, he inherited the Lord Proprietorship, only to lose it later during the American Revolution.

The Flag of Maryland uses the arms of the Cecil's along with the Calvert (father's family) black and gold paly (6 vertical bars), with a bend dexter counterchanged, and the Crossland (mother's family) red and white bottony (tre-foiled) counterchanged cross. The flag first flew on 11 October 1880, in Baltimore by the newly reorganised Maryland National Guard (state militia) at a parade marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of Baltimore Town (1729–1730). It also flew on 25 October 1888, at Gettysburg Battlefield for ceremonies dedicating monuments to the Maryland regiments of the Army of the Potomac and of the Confederate States Army. During the Civil War, the black and gold chevrons were used as a symbol on uniforms and flags by the Northern (Union) Maryland soldiers and units and the bottony cross from the Crosslands by the Southern (Confederate) regiments from Maryland. The later reunification of the two squares of the colonial seal and proprietary family's coat-of-arms in the increased use of a "Maryland Flag" in the late 19th and early 20th centuries symbolised the post-war reconciliation of the two sides of the bitterly divided border state. Officially, it was adopted as the State flag in 1904.[33]

The Great Seal of Maryland, which was stolen in 1645, was replaced by a similar seal by Cecil. The seal features the Calvert arms and motto, which is still used in the Government of Maryland.

• On the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland is the settlement of Calvert
• Baltimore School is in nearby Ferryland.