The Richest East India Merchant: The Life and Business of John Palmer of Calcutta, 1767-1836 (Worlds of the East India Company)

216 Pages·2007·2.17 MB·English

by  Anthony Webster

T
J
OH
HE THE RICHEST
N
R

PI
C John Palmer, a merchant in Calcutta,
A
LH EAST INDIA dominated commercial life in India
ME and the far east for over thirty years in
ES
the early nineteenth century. He ran a
RT
global business, an ‘agency house’, which
OE MERCHANT
A engaged in banking, the opium trade,
F
S shipping and plantation agriculture.
CT
The book explores how Palmer
A
I
LN developed close relations with Indian
CD THE LIFE AND BUSINESS OF society, crossing ethnic and religious
U
TIA JOHN PALMER OF CALCUTTA divides in an effort to sustain his
T M 1767-1836 commercial empire. It provides a snapshot
A
of commercial and personal life in early
, E
1R British India, and tells an often poignant
7
6C tale of enterprise, love, stoicism, prejudice
7H and personal folly.
–
1A When Palmer & Co went bankrupt in
8N
3 1830, owing millions to its creditors, it set
6T
off a crisis of confi dence which by 1834
had destroyed all the agency houses, and
plunged the British Indian empire into
WW
the worst economic depression in living
EE
BB memory.
SS
This is the fi rst in-depth study of
TT
EE an Indian agency house, but it is more
RR
than just a business history. Palmer’s

personal and family life was inextricably
intertwined with his business interests,
Jacket: ‘View of the Loll Bazaar opposite
and his domestic circumstances shaped the
the house of John Palmer’ by J. B. Fraser,
development of his fi rm and its ultimate
c.1825-26.
fate.
ANTHONY WEBSTER is Head of
Humanities at the University of Central
Lancashire.
Worlds of the East India Company
Series editor H. V. BOWEN, University of B Anthony Webster
O
Leicester. BOYDELL & BREWER Ltd Y
D
P O Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and
E
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620-2731 (US) L
L
Richest East India.indd 1 01/03/2007 14:49:09
Worlds of the east IndIa Company Volume 1
the richest east India merchant
The Life and Business of
John PaLmer of CaLCuTTa 1767–1836
Worlds of the east IndIa Company
Issn 1752–5667
Series Editor
h.V. Bowen (University of leicester)
Editorial Board
andrew Cook (British library)
rajat datta (Jawaharlal nehru University, new delhi)
p.J. marshall (King’s College, london)
nigel rigby (national maritime museum)
this series offers high-quality studies of the east India Company, drawn
from across a broad chronological, geographical and thematic range. the
rich history of the Company has long been of interest to those who engage
in the study of Britain’s commercial, imperial, maritime, and military past,
but in recent years it has also attracted considerable attention from those who
explore art, cultural, and social themes within an historical context. the series
will thus provide a forum for scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds,
and for those who have interests in the history of Britain (london and the
regions), India, China, Indonesia, as well as the seas and oceans.
the editors welcome submissions from both established scholars and
those beginning their career; monographs are particularly encouraged
but volumes of essays will also be considered. all submissions will receive
rapid, informed attention. they should be sent in the first instance to:
professor h.V. Bowen, school of historical studies, University of leicester,
University road, leicester, le1 7rh
the richest east India merchant
The Life and Business of
John PaLmer of CaLCuTTa 1767–1836
anthony Webster
The BoydeLL Press
© anthony Webster 2007
all rights reserved. except as permitted under current legislation no
part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior
permission of the copyright owner
The right of anthony Webster to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, designs and Patents act 1988
first published 2007
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
isBn 978 1 84383 303 1
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Po Box 9, Woodbridge, suffolk iP12 3df, uK
and of Boydell & Brewer inc.
668 mt hope avenue, rochester, ny 14620, usa
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
a catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Great Britain by
antony rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire
ConTenTs
List of illustrations vii
Preface ix
maps xii
1 The world of John Palmer 1
2 The prince of merchants 23
3 The management of John Palmer & Company: strategies, 44
structures and problems
4 Parenthood and patronage: race, kinship, society and 65
anglo-indian business culture
5 John Palmer and the politics of the east india Company 87
6 ruin and failure 1820–1830 110
7 John Palmer’s life and legacy 132
appendices: The state of John Palmer & Co.’s affairs following 145
failure
notes 151
Bibliography 179
index 185

illustrations
Plates
(placed between pages 86 and 87)
1. View of the loll Bazaar opposite the house of John Palmer, by
J.B. Fraser, c1825–26. © British library Board. all rights reserved
(shelfmark X644 16)
2. Portrait of John Palmer, with thanks to Hodder & stoughton for
permission to use this picture
3. Major William Palmer with his second wife and children, by J. Zoffany
(c mid 1780s). © British library Board. all rights reserved (shelfmark
F 597)
4. the bust of John Palmer, Calcutta town Hall
5. the bust of John Palmer: inscription
6. the bust of John Palmer: full view
Maps
(placed on pages xii–xiv)
1. the British presence in india c1805
2. British trade in asia 1780–1830
3. Calcutta in the age of John Palmer
in memory of Jackie ryding
PrefaCe
The background to this book goes back to the early days of my academic
career, as a Phd student at the university of Birmingham in the late 1970s.
my dissertation topic was British imperialism in south-east asia during the
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, focusing particularly on the
role of trade in promoting British interest in the region from the principal
British possessions in india, Calcutta, madras and Bombay. The main actors
were the agency houses, those peculiar and colourful organisations which
combined banking, trade, agency shipping and plantation agriculture to
establish themselves as the wealthiest and most powerful commercial inter-
ests influencing British policy during the period. Leaders in the field such as
the biographer of Thomas stamford raffles, C.e. Wurtzburg, and the histo-
rian nicholas Tarling, identified John Palmer & Company as probably the
agency house which was most active in south-east asia. Pursuing their lines of
research i was introduced to the extensive collection of John Palmer’s corre-
spondence in the Bodleian Library, oxford.
even at the time, i was most surprised that this rich archive had not been
used to produce a dedicated biography or business history of the most promi-
nent and wealthiest British merchant in the east, a man described by no less
than a Governor-General as ‘the Prince of merchants’. Certainly the sixty
volumes of letters were about much more than the dry transactions of a
complex business; they contained the details of a rich and eventful family
and social life, offering fascinating insights into anglo-indian colonial society
during an early and turbulent period. The trajectory of my career meant that
i did not have another opportunity to resume my interest in Palmer until
1998, when to my relief and astonishment i discovered that the potential of
his papers had still not been realised. it was then, with support from edge hill
College, my employer at the time, that i embarked upon the research which is
the foundation of this book.
i have tried to organise the work so that personal, social and commercial
aspects of John Palmer’s life are all covered; so rich are the sources that to have
confined my efforts to a clinical analysis of the evolution of his firm would
have been to do them a grave injustice. i have attempted to write a book that
is rather more than a traditional business history. my aim has been to capture
the man’s personality, values, attitudes, relationships and the social milieu in