The nabobs of Madras / by Henry Dodwell.

  • Dodwell, Henry, 1879-1946.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The nabobs of Madras / by Henry Dodwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    secured appointment as one of the Company’s chaplains; he took part in Clive’s victualling contract; he was em¬ ployed as paymaster and commissary of the troops; he was sent on political missions to Tanjore, Sadras, and Pondicherry; and at last was ordered by the Company to revert to his post as chaplain. Two years later, he went home, with a reasonable fortune, obtained by trade and presents, and in 1760 was announced as the next governor of Madras—a post which he filled from 1763 to 1767; and during that time he cast over the place something of the shadow of his black gown. That, how¬ ever, signified dullness rather than virtue. Finally he bought a baronetcy and a mansion in Devonshire. This secular-minded cleric seems to have set the model in all but opportunities for his successors. As the Council said, it was not easy to find good men on a salary which barely allowed a chaplain to live; and I do not think anyone accepted the Company’s £100 a year for love of apostolic poverty. In that age it was out of fashion. Instead we have Parson Salmon, a namesake and perhaps a relative of the runaway officer. He was encouraged in his duties by receiving the appointment of secretary to a new board—the Board of Police, set up in 1770—to supplement his salary; but this was not enough for him. He resigned, went to Bengal, got Warren Hastings to introduce him to the Nawab of the Carnatic, and last appears in Madras as manager of a gun-factory for the Nawab at Tanjore. By him may be set the Rev St John Browne, who shortly after his arrival was punishing his servants for some misdemeanour when one of them fell, in trying to escape his blows, from a terrace some twenty feet high. The wretched man was left lying there all night, and died two days later. The most charitable supposition is that the chaplain was drunk. Another ecclesiastical oddity was Dr Christopher Wells,