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Born: c1554
Died: 1618
Sir Walter Raleigh (also spelt Ralegh) was born at East Budleigh and baptised at nearby Colaton Raleigh, he was a seafarer and explorer but wasn’t adverse to the odd bit of piracy. According to legend, he once laid down his cloak so that Queen Elizabeth I did not have to step into a muddy puddle. It was however in 1585 and his trip to the New World that really endeared him to the Queen. After landing on America’s east coast he named the area Virginia after the Virgin Queen.
Raleigh was not so well liked by Elizabeth’s successor, James I, who had him beheaded for treason in 1618.
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