Vikaasajublieeschool at 19:08, 29 January 2026

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{{about||the United States Navy officer|John R. Goldsborough|the legal reporter|John Goldesburg}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
[[File:Fort William, Calcutta, 1735.jpg|thumb|260px|[[Fort William, India|Fort William]], Calcutta, 1735]]
'''Sir John Goldsborough''' (died November 1693) was a sea-captain and administrator of the [[British East India Company]]. He was the founder of [[Fort William, India|Fort William]] in [[Calcutta, India]].

==Biography==
===Early life===
He was a native of [[Suffolk]], in which county he possessed an estate. He was in command of the [[East Indiaman]] ''Antelope'' when that ship was taken by a [[Royal Netherlands Navy|Dutch fleet]], between [[Masulipatam]] and [[Madras]] on 22 August 1673. His account of the engagement is in the [[Bodleian Library]]. He later commanded the ''Falcon'' in 1673–4, and ''Bengal Merchant'' in 1676–7, 1683, and 1686.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Goldsborough, John|volume=22|accessdate=|url=}}</ref>

===India===
The death of [[Sir John Child, 1st Baronet|Sir John Child]] in February 1690 created a vacuum in power within the company's hierarchy in India, and no officer initially succeeded Child. In January 1691, the Company directors resolved to appoint Gainsborough to act as the first member of council at the different settlements in India.<ref>James Talboys Wheeler, ''Madras in the Olden Time: Being a History of the Presidency from the First Foundation'', J. Higginbotham, 1861, p.249</ref> In February, he was knighted, and given the official title of ‘supervisor-commissary-general and chief governor' and set sail for India in March. The following year he was made ‘captain-general and commander-in-chief’ based at [[Madras]].<ref>John Holland Rose, Arthur Percival Newton, Ernest Alfred Benians, Henry Dodwell, ''The Cambridge History of the British Empire'', Volume 1, CUP Archive, 1929, p.102</ref> He arrived at [[Fort St. George, India|Fort St. George]] on 5 December 1692. His first instructions from the directors were to proceed with the construction of a steeple at a church at Fort George and to enlarge the town into a quadrangle.<ref>James Talboys Wheeler, ''Madras in the Olden Time: Being a History of the Presidency from the First Foundation'', J. Higginbotham, 1861, p.249</ref> He thereafter began investigating the quarrel between the late governor, [[Elihu Yale]], and his council. In June 1693 he went to [[Fort St. David]], and after a short stay there returned by land to Madras in July.

[[File:"A Perspective View of Fort William" by Jan Van Ryne, 1754.jpg|thumb|"A Perspective View of Fort William" by Jan Van Ryne, 1754]]

On 29 July he embarked for the [[Bay of Bengal]], arriving at Chatanati, just north of [[Calcutta]] on 12 August. He reported unfavourably of the late [[Job Charnock]] and the disorder that followed amongst the company's servants. He criticised Charnock's successor [[Francis Ellis (colonial administrator)|Francis Ellis]] as worsening the situation, and noting that he was "a man too easy and weak to stand alone in the head of such an affairs as this" and that "he led too loose a life to give any good example or govern this place".<ref>Sudip Bhattacharya, ''Unseen Enemy: The English, Disease, and Medicine in Colonial Bengal, 1617–1847'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 30 Jun 2014, p.54</ref> Ellis was quickly remanded to Fort St. George, and [[Charles Eyre]] made his replacement.

During his stay in Bengal, he criticised how everyone built as they pleased, without regulation, and noted how the company would incur large costs rectifying factories poorly constructed on unsuitable land. To resolve the situation he ordered a suitable piece of land to be enclosed by mud walls, and upon the approval of the local government, a factory was to be built on the land. The factory was to become the [[Fort William, India|Fort William]]. He also ordered Eyre to relocate the administrators into the only brick building, along with the papers in their possessions, which were at the time housed in thatched huts and liable to the hazard of fire.<ref>Sudip Bhattacharya, ''Unseen Enemy: The English, Disease, and Medicine in Colonial Bengal, 1617–1847'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 30 Jun 2014, p.54</ref>

===Death===
While staying at Chatanati, Goldsborough was struck down by fever and died ‘within some few days after’ 28 November 1693. Before leaving London he made a will, dated 7 March 1691, wherein he described himself as ‘of Bethnall Green, in the county of Middlesex, knight, being bound on a voyage to the East India beyond the seas in the shipp Berkly Castle’ (registered in P. C. C. 12, Bond). Goldsborough was succeeded by [[John Gayer (died 1711)|Sir John Gayer]], who was appointed General of India and based at [[Bombay]].

==Personal life==
Following his death, his wife and children remained at Charles Street, Fort George. His widow Mary later married Roger Braddyll, a member of Governor Pitt's council at Fort St. George. She died in India some time previously to 4 November 1702, on which day her husband administered to her estate at London.<ref>Henry Davidson Love, Indian Records Series ''Vestiges of Old Madras 1640–1800'', Mittal Publications, p.553</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldsborough, John}}
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:1693 deaths]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army officers]]
[[Category:British people in British India]]

John Goldsborough - Revision history

Vikaasajublieeschool at 19:08, 29 January 2026