Sir Thomas Rolt (c.1631–1710) was a British official of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

, President of Surat and Governor of Bombay from 1677 to 1681. His father was Edward Rolt of

Pertenhall Pertenhall is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located in Bedfordshire, close to the borders of Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Its parish council is a Quality Parish Council. It has recently published its Parish ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

; his mother was Edward Rolt's second wife Mary, a daughter of Sir Oliver Cromwell. Rolt began his career at the Surat factory of the Company, and was a writer from 1658. He moved to Persia where he was the local chief, agent on the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

from 1671 to 1677. During his period as President of Surat, the Company ordered him to cut back expenditure. Rolt pursued a policy that aimed to be even-handed with respect to the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

and the Siddis of Gujarat, which brought him criticism from Richard Keigwin. In 1682 Rolt returned to England with a fortune. He bought the manor of

Sacombe Sacombe is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, of Hertfordshire, England. At the 2001 census it had a population of 165. Sacombe is located about 4 miles N N W of Ware, Hertfordshire, Ware; o ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

in 1688, from Sir John Gore. In the vestry of Sacombe Church, there is a memorial to Rolt, who died in 1710, and to his wife, who died in 1716.

Family

Rolt married Mary, daughter of Thomas Coxe.

Edward Rolt Edward Rolt (c. 1686–1722) of Sacombe, Sacombe Park, Hertfordshire, Harrowby Hall, Lincolnshire and Spye Park, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the British House of Commons, House of Commons from ...

the Member of Parliament was their son. Their daughter Constantia married John Kyrle Ernle. The marriage also made Rolt stepfather of Samuel Rolt, another Member of Parliament, and the son of Thomas Rolt of Milton Ernest.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolt, Thomas British East India Company civil servants 17th-century English people 1710 deaths 17th-century births 18th-century English people Governors of Bombay