A £100,000 Bill, Then Chains: The English Factory at Surat in 1624

"All of us imprizoned and in irons." In February 1624, the President of the English factory at Surat wrote home that every Englishman in the house had been locked up. Four months earlier, the same man, Thomas Rastell, had been on a ship in the river, sending the Nawab a bill for almost £100,000 that was backed by eight captured junks. In the second half we go inside the factory, a trading house rather than a place that made anything. A junior "writer" was paid ten pounds a year, and there were fines for staying out after the gates closed. So why did anyone sign up? Some of the book's 1920 wording about Indians is dated, so we keep the facts and change the words. Hosted by Jay, with Meera and Soons. Soons, who lives in Surat, closes with her Court Report: was it blackmail or a fair claim? Source: H. G. Rawlinson, British Beginnings in Western India, 1579–1657: An Account of the Early Days of the British Factory of Surat (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1920). It is in the public domain in the US (published 1920) and in India (Rawlinson died in 1957).