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DECEMBER, 1914.] ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHIES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 267
SOME ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHIES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
BY LAVINIA MARY ANSTEY.
(Continued from Vol. XXXIV. p. 176.)
No. IV. JOHN SMITH.
JOHN SMITH, the fourth of our "Worthies," resembles William Jearsey, the fiery chief of Masulipatam1 rather than either Walter Clavell or Ambrose Salisbury, his contemporaries in Bengal. Like Jearsey, Smith, as head of a subordinate factory, openly defied his superiors, was dismissed the service, refused to return to England, and turned interloper.' Here, however, the resemblance ends, for Smith had no powerful supporters among those in office, and his attempt at independent trading ended prematurely and disastrously.
The first mention of John Smith in the Records of the East India Company is on the 18th October, 1667, when he was elected by a Court of Committees to serve as a factor in the Bay of Bengal at a salary of £20 per annum. In this capacity he was obliged to give security for £1000. His sponsors were "James Smith of Withington in Salop, Clerk," and Matthew Shepherd.2 The former, who was incumbent of St. John the Baptist, Withington, from 1654 to 1684 was probably a relative,"
John Smith sailed to India in one of the five ships sent to Madras in 1668, probably in the Blackamore, with Richard Edwards, another newly elected factor. Fort St. George was, at this time, in a state of turmoil owing to the actions of Sir Edward Winter, the late Agent, who, for over two years had defied the Company, had ignored their orders for his return to England, and had imprisoned his successor, Sir George Foxcroft. While the "Commissioners" empowered to reduce the mutinous Sir Edward to obedience were carrying out their instructions, the ships, with the Company's junior servants destined for Bengal, sailed to Masulipatam. Here they were detained by bad weather, and were unable to land their passengers at Balasor until early in 1669.
Smith appears to have been immediately ordered to Hugli, where he arrived on the 5th March, leaving Edwards at Balasor. The two had apparently struck up a friendship during the voyage from England and had already arranged to assist each other in private trade. Smith lost no time in buying and selling on his own and Edwards' account at Hugli, where he had temporary charge of the Company's factory, with a "diet allowance" of Rs. 30 per month. He began with some sword blades, but considered that the price offered by the local governor was too low."
In April, 1669, Edwards was sent to Kâsimbâzâr to join Thomas Joness, another of the Company's newly-arrived servants, while Smith accompanied John March on a special mission to Dacca. March was selected by Shem Bridges, head of affairs in Bengal, to plead the cause of the English to the Nawab Shaista Khân and to endeavour to obtain 1 Court Minutes, vol. 26, fols, 48, 68, 74.
1 See ante., vol. xxxiv. pp. 163, 286 ff.
3 The Shropshire Parish Registers mention James, Joseph, Mary and Rachel as children of the Rev. James Smith, but there is no record of any child of the name of John.
50. O. No. 3255.
4 Letter Book, vol. 4. 60. O. No. 3282. 80. O..No. 3264.
10. O. No. 3255.
0.0. Nos. 3265, 3272.
