Imagine you are arriving in Madras for the first time, alone, and you are 9 years old!
This is how the working life of Thomas Bowery began in the East Indies. Aged 7 he had travelled to the East Indies with his stepfather (Captain Samuel Smith). His father had died in the 1666 and his mother had remarried. Unfortunately, Captain Smith died of dysentery when they reached Bombay and so Thomas was on his own (it’s possible his mother was due to sail to join her husband and son, but it is not known whether they ever met again).
For the next 19 years Thomas worked in the shipping trade in the East Indies. At this time most Europeans died within two monsoons, so he was obviously suited to the climate. He was a pilot, then operated his own ships.
We have enjoyed Sue’s presentations before and every time we learn something new about her sources or the life of Captain Thomas Bowrey. The odd-shaped trunk in which many of his papers were found is just part of the fascinating pieces of information (it had a protuberance to fit a tall hat).
Sue returned to tell us more about Thomas Bowery using his private papers, journals and logbooks, which are full of interesting information and personal comments. During his time in the East Indies his journals document the culture, customs and peoples that he came across. It is a particularly interesting view of Anglo-Indian trade in its early stages of colonisation.
He was particularly taken with some snake charmers that had come to entertain the Englishman, and the local dignitaries. He also made lots of drawings to illustrate his notes. The fact that he took so much interest in other cultures led him to write the first English-Malay dictionary. Quite a feat for someone whose schooling must have been limited.
Once Thomas could afford to run his own ship, he was able to make a fortune and return to London. Back in Wapping (his childhood home), he married and settled until his death in 1713.
As Alan had told us in our May meeting: look for the moments your ancestors experienced significant events. Thomas had his fair share. He had to contend with pirates when a ship he had invested in, the Prosperous, was taken in Madagascar.
He also had an interest in the Worcester. After a most incident-strewn set of voyages the ship was seized by the Scots in Edinburgh. This had followed a protracted set of circumstances between the Company of Scotland and the East India Company. It was assumed the Worcester was an East India Company ship, and she had been seized in retaliation for the East India Company seizing the Annandale.
The Captain and crew of the Worcester were arrested and charged with piracy and murder. Some of the Edinburgh merchants and sea captains on the Admiralty Court jury were shareholders in the Company of Scotland, so there may have been some bias. In March 1705, despite a lack of evidence against them, Green and two of his men were found guilty and sentenced to death. Their deaths caused a storm of protest in England and Scotland, and ignited furious opposition against the projected Act of Union.
Thomas may have had a link with Daniel Defoe as Defoe had written against the Worcester affair. Subsequently, Thomas became involved with Daniel Defoe in the founding of the notorious South Sea Company. Bowrey died at 53 in 1713 and is buried at Lee, Kent. An amazing life, of interest to family and social historians and the history of trade and colonialisation in the East Indies (India).