MRP: 26th March 1663, Letter from Paul Ffrench to Sir GO

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26th March 1663, Letter from Paul Ffrench to Sir GO

BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, f. 54

Editorial history

02/06/09, CSG: Completed transcription
14/12/11, CSG: Created page & posted transcription to wiki




Abstract & context


Paul French wrote to to Sir George Oxenden in a letter dated March 26th, 1663.

In his letter, French referred to his friendship with Sir William Ryder, and mentioned contact with Sir George Oxenden before Oxenden's departure for Surat. He asked for Sir George Oxenden’s help in the administration of estate of Henry Revington, his dead son-in-law. He mentioned his good friend Captain Robert Fisher of the African.

Sir William Ryder briefly mentioned "Mr. French" in his own letter of March 26th, 1663, to Sir George Oxenden.[1]

Henry Revington had gone out to Surat in 1651 for three years with Captain Jeremy Blackman, the new President at Surat. He went as Captain Blackman's servant, rather than as an EEIC employee.[2]

Paul French had stood security for Henry Revington in 1656.[3] Revington had been chief of the Rajapur factory in 1659, and had been imprisoned by Shivajee in the early 1660s. Letters exist in the British Library from Henry Revington to L[eonard]. Bushell, 1659[4] Revington was briefly the President at Surat (1657-1658)


Suggested links


See 10th March 1665/66, Letter from Paul French to Sir GO


To do


(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript in BL


Transcription


This transcription has been completed, but needs to be checked

[BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, f. 54]

S:r Geo: Oxinden my much Hono:d ffreind,

Tho many rivill curtesies rcvd from you by mee & myne before yo:r departure out of England, have imboldened mee (by the advice of my Noble freind S:r W:m Rider[5]) to request a farther favour from you yett feare it may bee to great a trouble, w:ch is to begg yo:r Assitance for y:e Recovery of any Estate of my sonn Hen Revingtons[6] w:ch may bee á broad in y:e Country w:ch some of his relation are informed there is (& I hope the same) w:ch favour I begg for theire sakes, & to y:e purpose have heare inclosed lres of Administraion & á lre of átturney, wherein I was advised by S:r W:m Rider to joyne M:r Math Gray[7] my good ffreind, who I hope will bee willing to take ofs some of y:e Trouble from yourselfe hee knowing best I presume in w:t condition hee was or his Estate at his Death, & w:t shall bee recoveredd, I intreate you may bee consigned to mee, w:th as little notice as may bee thereoff to others; as also retournes of w:t was consigned to you & M:r Gray either formdd or my daughter if not all ready done S:r my Wife[8] & Daughter s present their service & respects to you in á Glass of good Canary & I desire yo:r Acceptance of a case of y:e same (w:ch I wish as good to you as now it is) by my Good ffreind Cap:t Rob:tt ffisher[9] in y:e Affrican whome god preserve G:O: [in LH margin] it is Marked as p Marg:t cut in y:e Wood & black y:e key in his owne Custody, w:th w:ch my prayers to God for yo:r long health & greater happinesse Is all at present from him who much desires to show himselfe.

S:r
Yo:r most ffaithful & gratefull
Serv:t
Paul ffrench.

March y:e 26:th 1663:


S:r

There is á Case of Canary for M:r Gray[10] (if liveing w:ch God Grant) if not pray please to except of it in Custody of Cap:t ffisher m’ked in y:e wood GM:F as y:e Other, Pray S:r please to retourne w:t doath concerne my Daughter Spire[11] by itselfe if w:thout to great trouble

Yo:rs as before P: ff:


Notes

Paul French & the English East India Company


"[April 25, 1656] The following securities are accepted ; Thomas Tomblings for Walter Gollipher and Edward Swinglehurst, William Buckeridge for Nicholas Buckeridge, and Paul French for Henry Revington ; each security is directed to seal a bond of 500/. penalty."[12]

"[May 21, 1658] Major Taylor and Mr. French, who provided the shells and guns for their friends in India, are to be summoned to the next court, so that this business may be satisfactorily settled."[13]


EEIC, 1650-1654


"[January 31, 1651] Certain Committees are desired to assist Sambrooke in framing the Company's letters to India for the Stock and the Voyage. Henry Revington (a young man educated by Mr. Fox, ' a writing maister '), who is to go as servant to Captain Blackman, is entertained at 20/. per annum for three years and given 10/. for fresh provisions. Captain Blackman's son John, who is to accompany his father to Surat, is to be allowed 10/. per annum and promised an increase according to his ability when capable of doing the Company service."[14]


Henry Revington


(1) May have been involved in illegal arms trading with Marathis
- "It was solely due to the greed and crooked dealings of Mr. Henry Revington, the Chief of the Company’s Rajapur…."[15]

(2) "…William Buckeridge for Nicholas Buckeridge, and Paul French for Henry Revington,; each security is directed to seal a bond for 500l. penalty."[16]

(3) "In 1657 Henry Revington and his associates sold the Mughal general, Shahbaz Khan a number of iron guns. The general paid five thousand of the stipulated twenty four thousand rials of eight…."[17]

(4) Chief of EIC Rajapur factory 1659

(5) "It was now necessary to send out to Surat a new President, as Spiller had now returned to England, leaving Henry Revington in charge…"[18]

(6) "The English Resident, Revington, is still imprisoned with his colleagues by Shivaji in a certain inland fort called Soangur…"[19]

(7) Revington seems to have been in dispute with the EIC[20]


Possible primary sources

BL


Add. 40696 ff. 16, 20: Revington (Henry). E. India Co's Chief in the Deccan. Letters to L. Bushell 1659. Copies.

- L Bushell may be the deceased Captain Leonard Bushell[21] referred to in a letter from Thomas Thomlins to Sir George Oxenden, dated 26th March 1663
  1. ↑ 26th March 1663, Letter from William Rider to Sir GO, London
  2. ↑ 'A Court of Committees for the United Joint Stock, January 31, 1651' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 30), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1650-1654 (Oxford, 1913), p. 87
  3. ↑ 'A Court of Committees for the United Joint Stock, April 25, 1656' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 513), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1655-1659 (Oxford, 1916), p. 98
  4. ↑ BL, Add. 40696 ff. 16, 20
  5. ↑ Sir William Ryder, London merchant
  6. ↑ See notes for more information on Henry Revington
  7. ↑ Mathew Gray was XXXX
  8. ↑ No details are known of Paul French's wife. His daugher was married to XXXX Spire, as revealed in this letter's postscriptum
  9. ↑ Captain Robert Fisher, commander of the African
  10. ↑ Mathew Gray
  11. ↑ Daughter Spire XXX. Missing faces
  12. ↑ 'A Court of Committees for the United Joint Stock, April 25, 1656' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 513), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1655-1659 (Oxford, 1916), p. 98
  13. ↑ 'A Court of Committees for the New General Stock, May 21, 1658' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 108), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1655-1659 (Oxford, 1916), p. 261
  14. ↑ 'A Court of Committees for the United Joint Stock, January 31, 1651' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 30), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1650-1654 (Oxford, 1913), p. 87
  15. ↑ Jadunath Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times, 6th Ed., (XXXX, 1961), p. 333
  16. ↑ CCM 55-59, p. 98
  17. ↑ Ian Bruce Watson, Foundation for Empire: English Private Trade in India, 1659-1760 (XXXX, 1980), p. 325
  18. ↑ CCM 55-59, p. xxiv
  19. ↑ EFI 61-64, p. 5
  20. ↑ E/3/86 f. 64 Mar 1662, Contents: Company's demands against Henry Revington
  21. ↑ PROB 11/306 May 158-210 Will of Leonard Bushell, Mariner of Limehouse, Middlesex 10 December 1661

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