William Fytche (1716 – 10 August 1753)[1] was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the mid-eighteenth century.[2] He was one of the last administrators before the Battle of Plassey allowed the company to firmly establish its rule in India.
William Fytche | |
|---|---|
_-_Portrait_of_William_Fytche_of_Bengal_1752.jpg) Portrait by Thomas Hudson (1752) | |
| Born | 1716 |
| Died | 10 August 1753 |
| Occupation | Colonial Administrator |
| Known for | President of Bengal |
Biography
editFytche was the youngest son of William Fytche, Member of Parliament for Maldon, and his wife Mary, daughter of Robert Corey of Danbury.[3] He became a member of the Calcutta council of merchants in 1746. In 1749 he went to Murshidabad, to take charge of the factory at Cossimbazaar there.[4] He became President (Governor) on 8 January 1752.[5] According to the Gentleman's Magazine in 1794, he had been in India for 21 years.[6]
Family
editFytche married Lucia Beard on 25 February 1744 at Fort St George, Madras, where he was before being sent to Bengal.[7] Their daughter Elizabeth was heir also to Fytche's brother Thomas, of Danbury Place, Essex; she married in 1775 Lewis Disney, who then changed his name to Lewis Disney Fytche.[8]
Fytche died of dysentery at the age of 35. After Fytche's death Lucia married William McGuire, having a son and a daughter with him.[9]
References
edit- ^ "Essex Record Office Level: Category Illustrations Level: Fonds Mint Portraits". Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- ^ Provinces of British India - World Statesmen
- ^ "Fytche (Fitch), William (c.1671-1728), of Danbury Place, Essex, History of Parliament Online". Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- ^ Fytche, Albert (1878). "Burma past and present, with personal reminiscences of the country". Internet Archive. C. Kegan Paul & Co. p. 15. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- ^ Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1859). Madras. J. Murray. p. 80.
- ^ The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. E. Cave. 1794. p. 955.
- ^ Harwood, H. W. Forsyth (1904). "The Genealogist". Internet Archive. p. 104. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- ^ "Publications of the Harleian Society: The visitations of Essex by Hawley, 1552; Hervey, 1558; Cooke, 1570; Raven, 1612; and Owen and Lilly, 1634 : to which are added miscellaneous Essex pedigrees from various Harleian manuscripts, and an appendix containing Berry's Essex pedigrees". Internet Archive. 1879. p. 657. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- ^ Burke, Bernard (1879). "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland". p. 118. Retrieved 11 August 2015.