He was the fifth son and twelfth child of Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr, and was born at Testwood in Hampshire, . He came to Virginia in 1618. He was a member of the House of Burgesses (1628–30). In 1630, the decision was made to plant a settlement on the York River, "... for the securing & taking in of a tract of Land called ye fforest bordering uppon the cheife residence of ye Pamunkey King the most dangerous head of the Indian enemy ..." John West received one of the first grants issued for this purpose, 600 acres "on the east side of Felgates". "Felgates" refers to Robert Felgate's 1632 grant of "350 acres lying at Kiskeyacke upon Pamunkey". West sold the 600 acres, along with adjoining land, to Edward Digges in 1650;. It became known as the "E.D." plantation, renamed by later owners as "Belfield".