MRP: 25th September 1662, Letter from Arthur Ingram to Sir GO, London
25th September 1662, Letter from Arthur Ingram to Sir GO, London
BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, ff. 3-4
Editorial history
10/03/10, CSG: Completed transcription
13/12/11, CSG: Created page & posted transcription to wiki
Contents
Abstract & context
Suggested links
See 23rd March 1662/63, Letter from Arthur Ingram to Sir GO, London
To do
(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL
Transcription
This transcription has been completed, but requires checking
[BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, ff. 3-4]
Honoured Sir
I hope this will find yow with safety, health, & content at Surratt the goods newse whereof will very much rejoyce mee & having the opportunity to know of this conveighance Overland by being at present one of the Committee whow as in all other cappacities I shall bee ambitious in securing yow, I would not Omitt to remind yow of my former request concerning what M:r Matt fforster[1] was my debtor wherein I must bee Y:e more earnest & remayne the more obliged for whatsoever courtesie yow shall doo mee by how much I heare of â report by the shipps come y:e yeare y:t hee dyed indebted to y:e Compa:a more than all his estate discovered after his death would satisfie to w:ch I cann say that by w:t I know & heard from his owne mouth I doe verily beeleeve y:t hee carried with him to y:e a Vallue of neare 1000 pounds when hee went out of England of which hee never made any returne either for his owne accompt or friends & having had the employment there in trade of such an Originall estate for soo long a time & being a man of sure partes and government I thinke all that now him must acknowledge or wronge their owne conscience, it may easily bee resolved y:t some other hath sinisterly & fraudulently remayned with his estate, whereoff I hope yow will by your Authority & Industry purge them to their shame for y:e satisfaction of his ?inst Obligacons & especially that to whome most Abruptly (being very great haste) subscribe himself./
London, 25:e Septemb:r 1662
[Runs out from preceeding letter]
f. 4
Sir The Comp:a Lett:s having bin by â mischance y:t befell y:e Porte opened in ffrance which occasions them now to send second copies I doe likewise make bould to trouble yow with the Antecedent to which I shal oneley add y:t I am certainely informed y:t when M:r ffoster went to Persia upon the American hee carryed for his owne Acco:t (besides other thinges) six very great Ba:s of Callicoes which could not bee worth less Y:n 500:ll Sterl: & the second voyadge y:t sayd Shipp returnes for Persia hee bought all y:e private Trade y:t shee carryed to y:e vallew of 1200:ll Sterling intending to carry the same with him for Spahaune but after his decease y:e same was transported by one M:r Step: fflower[2] who succeeded him, & who at his returne gave out it came to an ill markett & that M:r fforster was very much in debt which was knowne by them y:t heard him say soo to be notoriously false & Impossible they knowling whathee carryed to Persia for his owne acco:tt & that whilst hee lived thow hee reced in sevall Presents to y:e vallew of 500:ll at y:e least & had P.Cs [?] paid him for ffreight of great quantities of pearle & gold laden on said ship American & Vinc [?] ffrig:t for Surr:tt for all which estate said M:r fflower ought undoubtedly to be accomptable & although (to his perpetuall sorrow) hee may rather desire to referr the same to y:e farr more dreadfull tryall in y:e other world I hope yow will by your Authority oblige him to sure â Restitution in this as may satisfie M:r fforsters inst debts unto all men & more espetially mine my onely dependence being upon your favor to whome I shall never cease to acknowledge my obligacons for what I shall receive, I am likewise informed y:t when hee went from Surr:tt hee left considerable efforts behind him & that hee had an acco:tt [?] dependant with Anthony Smith[3] at Mocha in whose hands hee had to a good vallew, & that hee left M:r Matt: Gray[4] & his Brother W:m fforster[5] ioyntly his Substitutes for y:e manadgem:tt of all his concernes in his absence, whome if they would but consid:r how much I was his ffreind me thinkes they should endeavour to see mee righted but hearing from none of them I must conclude y:t I have noo hopes of anything except by your good meanes & thus begging your excuse & wishing yow all happiness I rest
S:r Y:r most humble Serv:tt
Arthur Ingram
Notes
Mathew Forster, Spahaune
"CONSUL LANNOY to THE EARL OF WINCHILSEA.
"[January 12-13, 1658] The following appointments are made, viz. at Surat, Nathaniel Wyche to be President, Christopher Oxeinden (sic), Accountant, Mathew Andrewes General-Purser, John Lambton, Warehousekeeper, these all to be of the councill. A minister is not yet provided. Mathew Forster to be Secretary."[6]
1661, June 5. Aleppo. We learn from Spahaune " that Oran Zebe is fully possest of the Great Mogulls crowne in India, and is unlikely to be molested therein, having killed his elder brother, keepes his father and younger brother prisoners, and Sultan Susa, his elder brother that is Prince of Bengala, is able to do him little hurt. The King of Persia is sending an Ambassador with a very large present to Oran Zebe to congratulate his safe possession of the Crowne." Ettoman Doulatt, the Grand Vizier [of Persia] is banished, which put things so out of order that Agent Buckeridge has been able to do nothing. The new agent, Mr. Mathew Forster. who was sent to reside at Spahaune in Mr. Buckeridge's place, writes from Gombrone that the Dutch have so far prospered in their attempts upon Macasar as to fire some vessels in the Road and surprise one of the forts, " which would be inconsiderable if the people were unanimous, but their discontents with their government makes them careless who are their rulers . . . and the Dutch are now like to be little lesse then masters of that place, which is the most considerable of all in the South Seas." [7]
"Since the last shipping the following had died : Richard Napier and Samuel Barnard in Rajapur ; Matthew Forster and Richard Brough in Persia ; and Henry Revington and Francis Rushworth in Surat"[8]
Possible primary sources
TNA
PROB 4/12262 Ingram, Ralph, of St. Dionis Backchurch, London, citizen and merchant tailor 1696 9 Apr. (1695)
- Possibly the nephew of Sir Arthur Ingram. J.R. Woodhead's entry on Ralph Ingram, nephew of Sir Arthur Ingram, is rather inconsistent with the dates it gives for his death and burial at St Dionis Backchurch ("d 30 Jan 1695/6, bur St Dionis") and the proving of his will ("Will PCC 34 Bond pr, 28 Mar 1696"). An inventory dated April 9th 1695 seems inconsistent with a death date of 20 Jan 1695/96. Only a detailed look at the physical manuscript at TNA will resolve this
PROB 5/1304 INGRAM, Ralph, of St Dionis Backchurch, London, citizen and merchant tailor (includes commission) [Registered will: PROB 11/430] 1695
- Son of Robert Ingram and nephew of Sir Arthur Ingram
PROB 11/308 Laud 53-107 Will of Robert Ingram, Ironmonger of London 27 June 1662
- Brother of Sir Arthur Ingram
PROB 11/367 North 95-141 Will of Sir Arthur Ingram of City of London 26 September 1681
PROB 11/430 Bond 1-42 Will of Ralph Ingram, Merchant Tailor of London 28 March 1695
- Son of Robert Ingram and nephew of Sir Arthur Ingram
- ↑ Mathew Forster was appointed agent at Isfahan in Persia, to replace ?Nicholas Buckeridge ('Letter from Consul Lannoy, Aleppo, to the Earl of Winchelsea', June 5th, 1661, in H.M.C., Report on the manuscripts of Allan George Finch, Esq., of Burley-on-the-hill, Rutland (London, 1913), p. 124). See also Missing faces
- ↑ Stephen fflower, Persia
- ↑ Anthony Smith was later a member of Sir George Oxenden's council at Surat (CHECK DETAILS AND SOURCE)
- ↑ Mathew Gray
- ↑ William Forster was presumably the brother of the deceased Mathew Forster, who had been in Persia
- ↑ 'A court of committees for the New General Stock, January 12-13, 1658' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 47, in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of the court minutes of the East India Company, 1655-1659 (Oxford, 1916), p. 212
- ↑ H.M.C., Report on the manuscripts of Allan George Finch, Esq., of Burley-on-the-hill, Rutland (London, 1913), p. 124
- ↑ William Foster (ed.), English factories in India, 1661-1664 (Oxford, 1923), p. 28
