James Oglethorpe (1/2/22/1696 - 6/30/1785) was a British general, a philanthropist and was the founder of the colony of Georgia. A social reformer in England, he hoped to resettle England's poor, especially those in debtors prison, in the New World. Oglethorpe sailed for 88 days, arriving in Charleston, South Carolina on the ship Anne, in late 1732, and settled near the present site of Savannah, Georgia on February 12, 1733.