Thomas Bowrey (1659-1713) was an English merchant and mariner in the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...

trade. He was initially as an independent mariner in the country trade and became a

Wapping Wapping () is a district in East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wapping's position, on the north bank of the River Thames, has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, ...

-based merchant and “projector”.

Biography

Bowrey was born on 7 September 1659 in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and lost his father in 1665 during the last major outbreak of plague in London. After the Great Fire of 1666, at the age 7, he departed for the East Indies and arrived at Fort St George,

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(now Chennai) in 1669. His experiences during the next decade were recorded in a manuscript passed down the Eliot/Howard family and published as ''A Geographical Account of Countries Round the Bay of Bengal'' in 1905. It included the first written account of the recreational use of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

. In 1913, Bowrey's surviving business papers were discovered in a trunk hidden in an attic at Cleeve Prior,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

. Selections of these papers, edited by Sir Richard Carnac Temple, were published in two works, ''The Papers of Thomas Bowrey'' (1927) and ''New Light on the Mysterious Tragedy of the'' ''Worcester'' (1930). At the age of 30, Bowrey returned home to Wapping as a passenger on the Bengal Merchant in 1689, married Mary Gardiner in 1691, and acted as a consultant to independent East Indies ventures and published the first Malay-English dictionary in 1701. In 1696, he embarked as commander of the ''St George Galley'' on an independent trading voyage that was aborted at Portsmouth. Between 1698 and 1707, Bowrey invested in numerous East Indies ventures, but he never commanded a ship again and suffered many losses. The most notable was the ''Prosperous'' taken by pirates in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

and the ''Worcester'' seized by the Scots in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, an incident that hastened the union of England and Scotland. Subsequently, Bowrey turned his energies to a number of varied projects, including his collaboration with

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

in the founding of the infamous South Sea Company. Having survived 19 years in a region in which most Europeans died within two

monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

, Bowrey died at 53 in 1713. He was buried at

Lee, Kent Plumstead (1855–1894) and then Lee (1894–1900) was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London from 1855 to 1900. It was formed as the Plumstead district by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 and was governed ...

, on 14 March. Despite everything, he amassed sufficient fortune for

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certai ...

to be built in his name. He left behind his papers, which shed light on life and commerce during the start of

globalisation Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

References

External links

''A Geographical Account of Countries Round the Bay of Bengal, 1669 to 1679 ''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

1713 deaths English merchants Year of birth unknown 1662 births {{GB-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

Further reading

External links