Building Bombay: The Seizure of Salsette, India, 1774
Commodore John Watson, East India Company
St. Thomas', Bombay
St. Thomas', Bombay
To get a grasp of this tale you really need to consider Mumbai, or as most Indians call it, Bombay. We look at it as one of the largest cities in the world, but in the 1770s it was not like that. The southern part was a collection of islands, which became British when ceded by Portugal as part of the marriage agreement between Charles II and Catherine of Braganza (the name Bombay is Portuguese - “bom baia” - “good bay”). North of the islands was the larger island of Salsette, which had been retained by Portugal until it was captured by the Marathas in 1737, as part of their developing empire.
Now envision a Maratha Empire which is riven with internal dissent, differing groups competing for power, control and wealth. Salsette was looking vulnerable, its two garrisons apparently open to bribery, and its military position looking weak. Its location, however, made it important. Lying to the north of Bombay it controls the routes into the interior, and thus access to the trade and riches of India. The East India Company in Bombay had begun negotiations with the commander of the main Salsette garrison at Thanna (now officially called Thane), seeking to buy (what would clearly be illegal) possession, but then word came from a Company representative in Goa that the Portuguese had eyes on Salsette themselves, and were sending a fleet to wrest back control of their former possession.
The Bombay Council had to make a decision; London was too far away for them to wait for permission. With the commander at Thanna still negotiating, prevaricating to get a better deal, the British decided to act, and gathered together a force to attack Salsette.
Which is where John Watson comes in.
John Watson was an Ulsterman, probably a native of County Antrim, as his father, James, came from Brook Hall in Lisburn. John was probably born in the 1720s, and by 1748 at the latest he had arrived in India. In that year he fought at a siege in Surat, twice taking part in sorties to drive besieging forces from their trenches, and on the second one killing the enemy commander despite suffering injuries to leg, arm and head. A year later he enhanced his fighting reputation by chasing a band of pirates up the Surat River and recovering valuable East India Company possessions.
In 1751, by now a Captain in the Company’s navy, he was again at Surat. The English-occupied fort and factory were under threat from Maratha forces, and Watson was posted to the river’s mouth to escort shipping into the harbour. Enemy artillery was hindering the process so he anchored his own vessel before the guns to draw fire while the merchant ships passed safely through. Later, when the factory, separate to the fort, was short of powder, Watson commanded a pinnace in a successful mission to get the ammunition to the factory. Fearless or foolhardy, he certainly seemed to be lucky enough to get away with it, although a spear wound, entering one side and exiting through the opposite hip, may have slowed him down somewhat. Apparently the pain from the wound stayed with him for the rest of his life, but it did not stop him fighting.
Over the next two decades he saw further action against the French at Pondicherry, against coastal pirates, and was at the capture of Mangalore from Hyder Ali in Mysore. Having been promoted to Commodore he was appointed Superintendent of all the East India Company’s Naval Department in Bombay and awarded a place on the Company’s Bombay Council. After surviving, somehow, a quarter of a decade fighting throughout India one would have thought he could settle into a comfortable desk job and get wealthy, but it seems that was not him.
With the Portuguese fleet expected the Company forces prepared to attack the forts on Salsette, and John Watson placed himself in command of the naval forces. On December 12th 1774 the British forces arrived at the main Maratha fort at Thanna, on an island opposite Salsette which controlled the waterway. The fort was originally a Portuguese one, about four hundred metres square, and contained two thousand defenders, so it was not going to be an easy conquest. A short siege began, with the expected Maratha relief force failing to appear. The actual assault began on December 28th and the fort fell easily, but John Watson did not see it. The day before the attack Watson was standing on the beach before the fort when a shell exploded nearby. The shell missed him, but the sand blown out by the shell did not. It tore into his face, blinding him and causing such injuries that, despite being evacuated to Bombay, he died a few days later. After surviving all those injuries in his daredevil younger years, Watson ended up being slain by sand.
Now normally that would be the end of the story. It could be extended by explaining how the subsequent peace treaty led to the First Anglo-Maratha war, but that would be for another tale. This one continues because Watson’s colleagues on the Bombay Council wished to show their appreciation of his service, and so appointed his nephew as a Writer for the company. A Writer was an important post; it involved recording the transactions the Company were involved in - not a trivial position.
The nephew (son of John’s sister, Alice), James Watson Hull, from near Lisburn in Country Antrim, married Sophia Hollomby, and had a daughter, Sophia. Her place in Britain’s colonial annals rests on her being the second wife of Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. They married in Cheltenham in 1817, and brought up a family in Highwood House, in Highwood Hill in North London (the house is still there, Grade II Listed, but divided into flats). Raffles himself died there in 1826, but Sophia stayed on and lived there until her death over twenty years later in 1858. Unfortunately there was no Raffles dynasty, the last of her children, Ella, having died in 1840. Still, interesting to consider that, if John Watson had not decided to lead that assault on Thanna, his family may never have become involved with one of the most prominent and wealthy mercantile families of the Far East.
Now envision a Maratha Empire which is riven with internal dissent, differing groups competing for power, control and wealth. Salsette was looking vulnerable, its two garrisons apparently open to bribery, and its military position looking weak. Its location, however, made it important. Lying to the north of Bombay it controls the routes into the interior, and thus access to the trade and riches of India. The East India Company in Bombay had begun negotiations with the commander of the main Salsette garrison at Thanna (now officially called Thane), seeking to buy (what would clearly be illegal) possession, but then word came from a Company representative in Goa that the Portuguese had eyes on Salsette themselves, and were sending a fleet to wrest back control of their former possession.
The Bombay Council had to make a decision; London was too far away for them to wait for permission. With the commander at Thanna still negotiating, prevaricating to get a better deal, the British decided to act, and gathered together a force to attack Salsette.
Which is where John Watson comes in.
John Watson was an Ulsterman, probably a native of County Antrim, as his father, James, came from Brook Hall in Lisburn. John was probably born in the 1720s, and by 1748 at the latest he had arrived in India. In that year he fought at a siege in Surat, twice taking part in sorties to drive besieging forces from their trenches, and on the second one killing the enemy commander despite suffering injuries to leg, arm and head. A year later he enhanced his fighting reputation by chasing a band of pirates up the Surat River and recovering valuable East India Company possessions.
In 1751, by now a Captain in the Company’s navy, he was again at Surat. The English-occupied fort and factory were under threat from Maratha forces, and Watson was posted to the river’s mouth to escort shipping into the harbour. Enemy artillery was hindering the process so he anchored his own vessel before the guns to draw fire while the merchant ships passed safely through. Later, when the factory, separate to the fort, was short of powder, Watson commanded a pinnace in a successful mission to get the ammunition to the factory. Fearless or foolhardy, he certainly seemed to be lucky enough to get away with it, although a spear wound, entering one side and exiting through the opposite hip, may have slowed him down somewhat. Apparently the pain from the wound stayed with him for the rest of his life, but it did not stop him fighting.
Over the next two decades he saw further action against the French at Pondicherry, against coastal pirates, and was at the capture of Mangalore from Hyder Ali in Mysore. Having been promoted to Commodore he was appointed Superintendent of all the East India Company’s Naval Department in Bombay and awarded a place on the Company’s Bombay Council. After surviving, somehow, a quarter of a decade fighting throughout India one would have thought he could settle into a comfortable desk job and get wealthy, but it seems that was not him.
With the Portuguese fleet expected the Company forces prepared to attack the forts on Salsette, and John Watson placed himself in command of the naval forces. On December 12th 1774 the British forces arrived at the main Maratha fort at Thanna, on an island opposite Salsette which controlled the waterway. The fort was originally a Portuguese one, about four hundred metres square, and contained two thousand defenders, so it was not going to be an easy conquest. A short siege began, with the expected Maratha relief force failing to appear. The actual assault began on December 28th and the fort fell easily, but John Watson did not see it. The day before the attack Watson was standing on the beach before the fort when a shell exploded nearby. The shell missed him, but the sand blown out by the shell did not. It tore into his face, blinding him and causing such injuries that, despite being evacuated to Bombay, he died a few days later. After surviving all those injuries in his daredevil younger years, Watson ended up being slain by sand.
Now normally that would be the end of the story. It could be extended by explaining how the subsequent peace treaty led to the First Anglo-Maratha war, but that would be for another tale. This one continues because Watson’s colleagues on the Bombay Council wished to show their appreciation of his service, and so appointed his nephew as a Writer for the company. A Writer was an important post; it involved recording the transactions the Company were involved in - not a trivial position.
The nephew (son of John’s sister, Alice), James Watson Hull, from near Lisburn in Country Antrim, married Sophia Hollomby, and had a daughter, Sophia. Her place in Britain’s colonial annals rests on her being the second wife of Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. They married in Cheltenham in 1817, and brought up a family in Highwood House, in Highwood Hill in North London (the house is still there, Grade II Listed, but divided into flats). Raffles himself died there in 1826, but Sophia stayed on and lived there until her death over twenty years later in 1858. Unfortunately there was no Raffles dynasty, the last of her children, Ella, having died in 1840. Still, interesting to consider that, if John Watson had not decided to lead that assault on Thanna, his family may never have become involved with one of the most prominent and wealthy mercantile families of the Far East.
To the Memory of JOHN WATSON Esq. Superintendant of the Marine of their Presidency and Commander in Chief of the Naval Force employed in the Reduction of SALSET in the year 1774.
An Officer who manifested an unremitted Zeal for the Interest of the East India Company and the Honor of his Country at the Siege of TANNA he was mortally wounded the 21st December 1774 and died in the Town the 27th following in the 52nd year of his Age.
As a Testimony of his distinguished Merit and Eminent Services the United East India Company erected this Monument AD 1777.
An Officer who manifested an unremitted Zeal for the Interest of the East India Company and the Honor of his Country at the Siege of TANNA he was mortally wounded the 21st December 1774 and died in the Town the 27th following in the 52nd year of his Age.
As a Testimony of his distinguished Merit and Eminent Services the United East India Company erected this Monument AD 1777.
Sources
Picture
Harbour of Bombay - James Forbes, plate 22 from 'Oriental Memoirs: a narrative of seventeen years residence in India (Bentley, London, 1834)
Military
Reports from Committees of the House of Commons, Vol VIII, East Indies & Carnatic Wars, etc. (House of Commons, 1806)
The East India Military Calendar containing the services of General Field Officers of the Indian Army, Vol. II (Kingsbury, Parbury & Allen, London, 1824)
Battles of the Honourable East India Company (Making of the Raj) - Wing Cdr (retired) Dr. M. S. Paravane, APH Publishing, New Delhi, 2006
History of the Indian Navy - Charles Rathbone Low, Bentley & Son, London, 1877
Genealogy
www.ancestry.co.uk
Picture
Harbour of Bombay - James Forbes, plate 22 from 'Oriental Memoirs: a narrative of seventeen years residence in India (Bentley, London, 1834)
Military
Reports from Committees of the House of Commons, Vol VIII, East Indies & Carnatic Wars, etc. (House of Commons, 1806)
The East India Military Calendar containing the services of General Field Officers of the Indian Army, Vol. II (Kingsbury, Parbury & Allen, London, 1824)
Battles of the Honourable East India Company (Making of the Raj) - Wing Cdr (retired) Dr. M. S. Paravane, APH Publishing, New Delhi, 2006
History of the Indian Navy - Charles Rathbone Low, Bentley & Son, London, 1877
Genealogy
www.ancestry.co.uk
© Jonathan Dewhirst 2019
