Francis Dade (politician)

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Francis Dade (1621–1662/63) was an English-born merchant, soldier and landowner who moved to Virginia after the death of Charles I. In Virginia he sometimes used the name John Smith. He served as one of Warwick County’s two burgesses in 1658 and was elected Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses that year.

Dade’s leadership came during a dispute with Governor Samuel Mathews, when the House refused to dissolve and asserted its sovereignty, later reelecting Mathews and his council under oath to the House. He moved his family to Westmoreland County by 1660, became a major in the county militia, and acquired land near the Townshend patent. He married Behethland Bernard, and they had a son, Francis Dade II. Dade died at sea in 1662 or 1663; his widow later married Major Andrew Gilson.