WilmerLassetter at 20:26, 8 March 2026

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{short description|British surgeon and India traveler (17th century)}}
{{Infobox medical person
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| name = Gabriel Boughton
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| occupation =[[East Indiaman]] surgeon
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| work_institutions = [[East India Company]]
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'''Gabriel Boughton''' was an [[East India Company]] (EIC) ship surgeon who travelled to India in the first half of the seventeenth century and became highly regarded by [[Mughal Empire|Mughal royalty]].

He became the centre of a legend surrounding the acquisition by the EIC of a licence to trade freely in India and establish the first EIC factories on the banks of the [[Hooghly River]] in Bengal. According to the legend, incorrectly retold for over a century, Boughton treated and cured emperor [[Shah Jahan]]'s daughter [[Jahanara Begum]] of burns after her clothing caught fire, and in return the emperor granted the EIC a [[firman|licence]] to trade freely and to open factories. Boughton was further credited with receiving concessions from the emperor's son [[Shah Shuja (Mughal prince)|Shah Shuja]] for treating one of the prince's concubines.

After being retold in a number of reputable sources mainly throughout the eighteenth century, [[East India Company#Expansion|EIC expansion]] in the Indian [[state of Bengal]] in the 1840s became attributed to Boughton's story. However, when historians examined its details, some details were found to be impossible due to inconsistencies in dates and the absence of evidence that the emperor's licence ever existed.

==Background==
In the early days of the EIC, doctors frequently travelled with traders who were on their way to establish factories. In addition to medical care for themselves and their ships, warehouses, and factories, these "Company ship surgeons" were found to be useful in trading medical treatment for concessions from rich rulers.<ref name="Kochhar1999"/> In India, EIC establishments included [[Bombay]], [[Surat]], Persia, [[Madras]] and the east coast, and Bengal and the Bay. Boughton was one of the early medical practitioners of this era, the others including [[John Woodall]], [[William Hamilton (surgeon)|William Hamilton]], [[John Zephaniah Holwell]], and [[William Fullerton (surgeon)| William Fullerton]].<ref name=IMS1947/>

The English acquired a foothold in India in 1613 by establishing a factory at Surat under the reign of [[Jahangir]] and with Portuguese opposition. In 1631, by the order of Shah Jahan, the Portuguese were expelled from Hooghly, and seven years later the emperor appointed his son Shah Shuja to be [[Viceroy]] of Bengal. The capital of the province was changed from [[Gauḍa (city)|Gaur]] to [[Rajmahal]] in 1639.<ref name=BMJ1907/>

==Life==
Boughton entered Surat in 1644 and was appointed to [[Asalat Khan]], the [[Mir Bakhshi|paymaster general of the Mughal empire]], who was keen on having the services of a European surgeon. Subsequently, Boughton travelled to [[Agra]]. Following the death of Khan in 1647, Boughton was appointed to the emperor’s son, Shah Shuja, then the governor general of Bengal based at Rajmahal. When one of the prince's concubines developed a pain in her side, Boughton was able to cure her and, according to colonial administrator [[John Beard (colonial administrator)|John Beard]] in 1685, in return received exemption from duty for personal trade but not for the EIC. In 1649, Captain Brookhaven's ship from London arrived in Bengal with duty-free goods "upon the account of Boughton's nishauns",<ref name="Kochhar1999"/> giving the British an advantage over other traders. Two years later, the British returned to establish a factory at Hooghly and obtain another exemption for the EIC. They obtained this by informing Shah Shujah that the previous privileges given by Shah Jahan were for the exemption of all duty.<ref name="Kochhar1999"/>

==The legend==
The traditional story differs and first appeared in the second volume of [[Robert Orme]]'s ''[[History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan from 1745]]''<ref name="Kochhar1999"/> with a more detailed description in Stewart's book, amongst a number of other publications.<ref name="Kochhar1999"/><ref name="Stewart1813">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/TheHistoryOfBengal|title=The History of Bengal|last=Charles Stewart|date=1813|access-date=2019-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003214151/https://archive.org/details/TheHistoryOfBengal|archive-date=2017-10-03|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Beatson1902>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/b2265110x|title=Indian Medical Service past and present|last1=Beatson|first1=William Burns|author2-link=Royal College of Physicians of London|last2=Royal College of Physicians of London|date=1902|publisher=London : Simpkin and Marshall|others=London Royal College of Physicians}}</ref> Their primary sources are likely to have been two accounts, one by EIC ship captain [[Thomas Bowrey]] and the other by John Beard.<ref name="Kochhar1999"/> It was also reiterated in the article "Surgeon in India: Past and Present", contributed by Dodwell and Miles to the ''[[Calcutta Review]]'' in 1854 (vol. xxiii).<ref name=BMJ1907/>

===Appearance in India===
Prior to 1639, as stated in [[Charles Stewart (orientalist)|Charles Stewart's]] 1813 book ''The History of Bengal'', [[Sir Thomas Roe]], who had been sent by [[James VI and I|James I]] as ambassador to Jahangir in 1615 and who remained in the Mughal courts for three years, made an entry regarding Boughton in his memoirs,<ref name=BMJ1907>{{Cite journal|date=25 May 1907|title=British Medicine in India|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|volume=1|issue=2421|pages=1245–1253|issn=0007-1447|pmc=2357439|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.2421.1245}}</ref> when he wrote that Boughton "had for his dinner three hens, with rice, his drink being water, and a black liquor called cahu [coffee], drank as hot as could be endured".<ref name=Kerr1811>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wj4cG0mtc5QC&dq=cahu+coffee&pg=PP4546|title=A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels (Complete) Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery and Commerce by Sea and Land from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time|last=Kerr|first=Robert|date=1824|publisher=Library of Alexandria|isbn=9781465516121|language=en}}</ref> This story was found to be untrue and related to another Boughton.<ref name="Crawford1909"/> For many years after there is no mention of him until 1636–1637, when he appears stationed in Surat in medical charge of the [[East Indiaman|EIC's ship]] the ''Hopewell'', as part of the Bombay establishment.<ref name=IMS1947/>

===Jahanara Begum's burns===
[[File:Jahanara 1635.jpg|thumb|Jahanara Begum, 1635]]
In either 1636,<ref name="McDonald1955">{{Cite journal|last=McDonald|first=Donald|date=2 November 1955|title=The Indian Medical Service. A Short Account of its Achievements 1600–1947|department=[[History of Medicine Society|Section of the History of Medicine]]|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine]]|language=en|volume=49|issue=1|pages=13–17|doi=10.1177/003591575604900103|pmid=13289828|pmc=1889015}}</ref> 1643, 1644,<ref name="Crawford1909">{{Cite journal|last=Crawford|first=D. G.|date=January 1909|title=The Legend of Gabriel Boughton|journal=[[The Indian Medical Gazette]]|volume=44|issue=1|pages=1–7|issn=0019-5863|pmc=5167919|pmid=29005236}}</ref> or 1645,<ref name="Bhattacherje2009">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGVSvXuCsyUC&dq=gabriel+broughton+india&pg=SL1-PA69|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Events & Dates|last=Bhattacherje|first=S. B.|date=2009|publisher=[[Sterling Publishers]] Pvt. Ltd|isbn=9788120740747|location=New Delhi|pages=A69|language=en}}</ref> [[Jahanara Begum]], the favourite daughter of [[Mughal Emperors|Mughal Emperor]] [[Shah Jahan]], was severely burnt when her clothing caught fire in an accident during a dance performance.<ref name="Kochhar1999">{{Cite journal|last=Kochhar|first=Rajesh|date=September 1999|title=The truth behind the legend: European doctors in pre-colonial India|url=https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jbsc/024/03/0259-0268|journal=[[Journal of Biosciences]]|volume=24|issue=3|pages=259–268|via=[[Indian Academy of Sciences]]|doi=10.1007/BF02941239|citeseerx=10.1.1.623.1442|s2cid=23226012|access-date=2019-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117070141/https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jbsc/024/03/0259-0268|archive-date=2019-01-17|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Crawford1909"/> Local healers had failed to cure her, and, at the advice of [[vizier]] Assad Khan, the Emperor requested an English surgeon. The council of [[Surat]] recommended Boughton, the surgeon of the EIC ship the ''Hopewell'', as best-qualified for attending to the Princess and sent him to the [[Deccan]], where the emperor had his camp. Boughton was successful in healing her and, in return, was asked to name his reward. His request was for the EIC to be granted the privilege and [[firman|licence]] of founding factories in [[Bengal]] and of trading there freely, without the requirement to pay duty.<ref name=BMJ1907/><ref name="CasselsBrown1907">{{Cite journal|last=Brown|first=Andrew Cassels|date=April 1907|title=Two Forgotten Medical Worthies|journal=[[Edinburgh Medical Journal]]|volume=21|issue=4|pages=339–351|issn=0367-1038|pmc=5280178}}</ref><ref name="Hansen1972">{{Cite book |last=Hansen |first=Waldemar |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AV--abKg9GEC&dq=gabriel+boughton&pg=PA127 |title=The Peacock Throne: The Drama of Mogul India |date=1972 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=9788120802254 |location=Delhi |pages=127 |language=en |chapter=7. The smell of apples}}</ref><ref name="Ritchie1848">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=af1GAQAAMAAJ&dq=gabriel+broughton+india&pg=PA103|title=A History of the Indian Empire and the East Indian Company from the Earliest Times to the Present: Together with Accounts of Beloochistan, Affghanistan, Cashmere ...|last=Ritchie|first=Leitch|date=1848|publisher=W.H. Allen|location=London|pages=103|language=en}}</ref><ref name=Fryer2017>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAkkDwAAQBAJ&dq=gabriel+broughton+india&pg=PT115|title=A New Account of East India and Persia. Being Nine Years' Travels, 1672–1681, by John Fryer|last=Crooke|first=William|date=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781317187417|language=en}}</ref>

===Sultan Shah Shuja===
[[File:Shuja, Mughal Prince.jpg|thumb|Shuja, Mughal Prince]]
Thereafter, to secure and begin trading, Boughton travelled to Rajmahal, where he became acquainted with the Viceroy of Bengal, Shah Shuja, one of the Emperor's sons, and where further privileges were granted after Boughton healed a lady from the Sultan's [[zenana]].<ref name="Kochhar1999"/><ref name=BMJ1907/><ref name="Crawford1909"/><ref name="O'Malley1917"/> With royal approval, Boughton sent for his EIC men, and subsequently factories were founded at [[Hooghly district|Hooghly]], [[Balasore]], and [[Pipli]].<ref name="Kochhar1999"/><ref name=BMJ1907/><ref name="Crawford1909"/>

He was described "with that liberality which distinguishes Britons, sought not for any private emolument, but solicited that his nation might have liberty to trade free of all duties in Bengal and to establish factories in that country",<ref name="O'Malley1917">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0rkzIR3rTCMC&dq=gabriel+boughton&pg=PA265|title=Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa Sikkim|last=O'Malley|first=L. S. S.|date=1917|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9781107600645|language=en|chapter=XXI – The roll of honour}}</ref> and had therefore been credited with the beginnings of the EIC's trade in Bengal.<ref name="Cotton">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/calcuttaoldandn00cottgoog|title=Calcutta, Old and New: A Historical & Descriptive Handbook to the City|last=Evan Cotton|date=1907|publisher=W. Newman|others=[[New York Public Library]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/calcuttaoldandn00cottgoog/page/n22 4]|language=en}}</ref>

==Inconsistencies==
An alternative account based on evidence from the historian [[Firishta]] is given in [[Alexander Dow]]'s book ''The History of Hindostan, from the death of Akbar to the complete settlement of the empire under Aurangzebe'' (1772).<ref name=Beatson1902/><ref name=Dow1772>{{Cite web|url=https://digital.lb-oldenburg.de/brandes/sb/content/pageview/93603|title=The History of Hindostan, from the death of Akbar to the complete settlement of the empire under Aurangzebe|last=Dow|first=Alexander|date=1772|website=digital.lb-oldenburg.de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714093003/https://digital.lb-oldenburg.de/brandes/sb/content/pageview/93603|archive-date=14 July 2019|url-status=live|access-date=14 July 2019}}</ref>

There is enough evidence to show that Boughton pleased his royal patients and had much "influence in high places",<ref name=BMJ1907/> important enough that the legend gained popularity and was retold in reputable sources for over a hundred years, gaining its acceptance as true.<ref name="Kochhar1999"/><ref name=IMS1947/> The legend was first scrutinised by historiographer [[William Foster (historiographer)|Sir William Foster]].<ref name="Kochhar1999"/>

A number of dates have been found to be incompatible. Boughton was not near any royal residence or [[Agra]] at the time of Jahanara's injuries.<ref name=IMS1947>{{Cite journal|date=July 1947|title=The Passing of the I.M.S|journal=The Indian Medical Gazette|pages=411|s2cid=32191279}}</ref> On 3 January 1644, an official letter to the directors of the EIC in London, addressed by its president and council, discloses that Boughton was not sent to Shah Shuja until several years later than the legend tells.<ref name=BMJ1907/> Therefore, when further royal concessions were obtained, he was not in Rajmahal as stated in the legend. In addition, Jahanara's burns occurred in 1643–1644, while Boughton's mission to Agra occurred a year later. Her burns had in the meantime been treated and cured by Hakim Anitulla of Lahore. It is also not possible to credit the founding of the factory at Balasore to the further concessions, as it had already been established 12 years before Boughton's visit to Agra.<ref name=IMS1947/> In Stewart's book, he leaves a footnote regarding the concessions given by the emperor, saying "I was not able to find a copy of this firman among the Indian records."<ref name="Kochhar1999"/>

==Death==
Gabriel Boughton died in India shortly after the opening of the ports.<ref name=BMJ1907/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*[https://archive.org/details/englishinwester02andegoog/page/n62 ''The English in western India'']. Anderson, Phillip. Bombay, Smith, Taylor and co. 1854
*[https://digital.lb-oldenburg.de/brandes/sb/content/pageview/93603 ''The History of Hindostan, from the death of Akbar to the complete settlement of the empire under Aurangzebe''], [[Alexander Dow]], T. Beket and P. A De Hondt, London (1772)
*[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.115204/page/n1 ''The History Of Bengal''], Charles Stewart, Basilisks Press (1813)
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ib33yukzod0C&dq=gabriel+broughton+Hopewell+surgeon+india&pg=RA2-PA157 The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Ed. by James Prinsep, Volumes 2–3], James Prinsep, Calcutta, 1834, p.157
*[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24717/page/n241 “Surgeons in India – Past and Present”], Dodwell and Miles ''Calcutta Review'' (1854), Vol.XXIII, pp. 241–243

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boughton, Gabriel}}
[[Category:British surgeons]]
[[Category:British East India Company people]]

Gabriel Boughton - Revision history

WilmerLassetter at 20:26, 8 March 2026