Indian Antiquary Vol 45

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 65

APRIL, 1916] SOME ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHIES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 57
SOME ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHIES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
BY LAVINIA MARY ANSTEY.
No. v.
JAMES HARDING. JAMES HARDING, the fifth of our " Worthies," is notable chiefly for his unorthodox opinions and his disagreeable temper. During the twenty years in which his name occurs among the Records of the East India Company, there is not one kindly mention of him, nor any reason to suppose that he ever made a friend. In fact, except for the period when he was under the special protection of Job Charnock at Kasimbazar, he appears to have been always at variance with his superiors and his fellow workers. At a time when the small communities of the various factories in Bengal were drawn together, either by the need of social intercourse, or for mutual assistance in their private trading ventures, the omission of James Harding's name in the many chatty letters written to that popular correspondent (and subsequent head of Balasor Factory), Richard Edwards, is significant. Neither is there a single letter extant by Harding himself, beyond his statements to the Councils of Bengal and Madray. His career in India has been, perforce, pieced out from scattered references to his employment and standing, and from accounts of his misbeliefs and misdoings in the MSS. preserved at the India Office. These give a tolerable estimate of his character, and present him as a man always in opposition, both in religious and civil life, to accepted conditions. His adherence to the doctrines of the sestarian, Ludowicke Muggleton, may have been the cause of his unpopularity on his arrival in India, and attacks made on his religious beliefs probably rendered him inora, morose and less inclined to fraternize with those about him. The accusations levelled a gainst him by Agent Hedge; might be disregarde:1, since Hedges was in violent opposition to Job Charnock and aspersed all those whom Charnock supported. For the sume reason, the allegations against Harding's moral character might be discounted, since they were made by those who were supporting and currying favour with Hedges. But that Charnock himself should weary of Harding's coatinued "troublesome miscarryages" is the best evidence of his "turbulent" and " litigious " nature. No matter where he wag, or who was in office, he was evidently a man who would always be "agin' the government." No serious complaints were made as to his inefficiency, nor was he ever accused of trading privately to the Co.n pany's detriment. Ho simply seems to have had no capacity for living in friendship or for showing himself as friendly to any one.
James Harding's career in India extends from 1672 until 1688, and possibly later. He was elected a writer at £10 per annum on the Ist November 1671, on the recommendation of John Jollife and Benjamin Albyn, two members of the Court of Committees of the East India Company. His securities in the sum of $500 were Hercules Bridson of London, silk dyer, and Nicholas Harding of London. The latter was probably either the father or some near relative of the young writer, but no confirmation of the fact is available. A search for the will of Nicholas Harding at Somerset House has proved unavailing, nor have any other particulars regarding James Harding's family been discovered.
Four factors and ten writers were “entertained " by the Court of Committees in November 1671 to serve their factories in Madras and Bengal. James Harding's name is
1 Court Minutes, Vol. XXVII, pp. 184, 187.