MRP: 23rd March 1662/63, Letter from Berkley to Sir GO, St Johns
23rd March 1662/63, Letter from Berkley to Sir GO, St Johns
BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, f. 40
Editorial history
22/05/09, CSG: Completed transcription
18/12/11, CSG: Page created
Contents
Abstract & context
The writer of this letter to Sir George Oxenden, dated March 22nd 1552/63, sent from St. John's [?Clerkenwell] was possibly John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkely of Stratton.
Berkeley referred in his letter to John Pettit, a relative of his wife. If, at the time of writing, he was married to Christiana Riccard, daughter of the London merchant Sir Andrew Riccard, then Pettit will have been one of her relatives.
Suggested links
To do
(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL
(2) Check London hearth tax (1666) returns for Lord Berkeley in St. John's Clerkenwell
(3) Check the name of Berkeley's wife (?Christian Riccard) and explore how John Pettit was related to her
Transcription
This transcription has been completed, but requires checking
[BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, f. 40]
[f. 40]
S:r
The experience I have had of your great civility encourages me to desires a favour of you w:ch is that you will please to countenance and respect one Mr: John Pettit[1] (who I suppose is now w:th you at Suratt) being an Ingenious & hopeful young Gentleman related to me by my wife; Soe farr onely as may be w:thout prejudice to y:e East India Comp:a of w:ch I am confident you y:t are o:r Worthy Presid:t is y:e best Judge of, more I am sure you wold not Graunt, or more II am Sure I should not desire & in Graunting this request
[f. 41]
Of mine you will much therein Oblidge
S:t Johns March y:e 23: 1662/3
S:r
Yo:r Affectionate ffreinde &
Serv:t Berkley
P:S: I wish much health & Prosperitie to you & all yo:es during yo:r Stay in India & as ffortunate & Sudden a returne as is consistent w:th yo:r great Occasions, if I can Serve you here in England in anything pray Commande me
Notes
John Pettit, for Surat, 1661
"The following men are entertained for Surat: John Spiller at 100/. a year to go as second to the President ; John Goodyear at 100 marks a year ; Gerard Aungeir, Charles Smeaton and Strensham Maisters, ' now at Suratt ', at 30/. each a year; Caesar Chamberlen, John Pettit, Charles Bendish, and Richard Francis at 25/. a year ; William Jones, William Blackman, Henry Chune, and Henry Oxinden at 20/. a year."[2]
John Pettit, Bombay, 1675
Philip Gyffard was Deputy Governor, or Commissioner of Bombay [TBC] in 1675, however, "Gyffard was very sick, and the actual work fell almost entirely on his second, John Pettit, a man who was at the timecoming to the front"[3]
John Berkeley (b. 1602, d. 1678), first Lord of Stratton
See Dictionray of national Biography entry for John Berkeley (d. 1678)
See Wikipedia entry for John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkely of Stratton
Possible primary sources
TNA
PROB 11/331 Coke 108-166 Sentence of Charles Berkeley or Charles Earl of Falmouth 13 November 1669
- ↑ John Pettit was entertained for Surat in December 1661 at a salary of £25 per annum ('A Court of Committees, December 18, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 439), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), pp. 167-168 John Pettit was in Bombay in 1675, when he was second to the Deputy Governor of Bombay, Phillip Gyffard (Ray Strachey, Oliver Strachey, Keigwin's rebellion (1683-4): an episode in the history of Bombay (Oxford, 1916), p. 26). See Missing faces
- ↑ 'A Court of Committees, December 18, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 439), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), pp. 167-168
- ↑ Ray Strachey, Oliver Strachey, Keigwin's rebellion (1683-4): an episode in the history of Bombay (Oxford, 1916), p. 26
