Ambrose White arrived in America as a settler under the guidance of his father John White, governor of the Roanoke Colony. When the governor returned to England for supplies, Ambrose agreed with other rebellious colonists that they should move the colony inland. When his mother, Thomasin White, the acting governess of the colony, refused, the colony mutinied and Ambrose was among them. The colonists chose to exile Thomasin from the colony and it was Ambrose who locked the cage around her head.