The Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America, or simply the Georgia Trustees, was a body organized by James Edward Oglethorpe and associates following parliamentary investigations into prison conditions in Britain. After being granted a royal charter in 1732, Oglethorpe led the first group of colonists to the new colony, arriving there in February, 1733. The trustees governed Georgia, one of the Thirteen Colonies, from its founding until 1752, a period known as Trustee Georgia. Background Parliament established a committee to investigate prison conditions in February, 1729 and Oglethorpe was appointed chair. The work of the committee resulted in the release of prisoners onto the streets of London and other cities without prospect of employment, and Oglethorpe conceived the idea of a colony as a means of productively employing such people. The plan for the colony quickly broadened in scope to encompass several philanthropic and strategic purposes. Dr. Thomas Bray, a supporter of prison reform, invited Oglethorpe to use an organization he created some years earlier, known as the Associates of Dr. Bray, as the entity through which he might apply for a royal charter for the new colony. Oglethorpe expanded the group to include members of the prison committee and other social reformers. Bray died in February 1730, and Oglethorpe became the driving force behind the organization, which would soon give birth to the Georgia Trustees. The organization petitioned for a royal charter in July, 1731, which was signed by George II in April, 1732. After passing through government ministries, the charter reached the trustees in June, 1732. Settlement of Georgia Oglethorpe personally led the first group of colonists to the new colony, departing England on November, 1732 and arriving at the site of present-day Savannah, Georgia on February 12, 1733 O.S. The founding of Georgia is celebrated on February 1, 1733 N.S., the date corresponding to the modern Gregorian calendar adopted after the establishment of the colony. Oglethorpe and other Georgia Trustees developed an elaborate plan for settlement of the Georgia Colony. Now known as the Oglethorpe Plan, it specified how towns and regions would be laid out, how property would be equitably and sustainably allocated, and how society would be organized to defend itself on a perilous frontier. Though Oglethorpe and others wanted debtors' prisoners to inhabit the new colony of Georgia, the Crown determined otherwise. The colony would become a military buffer