William Watts
Encyclopedia
- for the Deputy Governor of Anguilla see William Watts (governor)William Watts (governor)William Watts was a British colonial governor. He was Deputy Governor of Anguilla from 1660 to 1666....
William Watts (1722 – 4 August 1764) was chief of the Kasimbazar (or Cossimbazar) factory of the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. He lived in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, and he was proficient in Bangla, Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
languages.
Career
Robert Clive assigned William Watts with the responsibility of acting as the representative of the company to the Nawab's court at MurshidabadMurshidabad
Murshidabad is a city in Murshidabad district of West Bengal state in India. The city of Murshidabad is located on the southern bank of the Bhagirathi, a distributary of the Ganges River. It was the capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule. Nawabs of Bengal used to rule Bengal from this...
.
Robert Clive engaged him to work out a secret plan for the final overthrow of Siraj Ud Daulah and to install a favourable Nawab
Nawab
A Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
on the masnad. Watts thus set up contact with the dissident amirs of the Murshidabad
Murshidabad
Murshidabad is a city in Murshidabad district of West Bengal state in India. The city of Murshidabad is located on the southern bank of the Bhagirathi, a distributary of the Ganges River. It was the capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule. Nawabs of Bengal used to rule Bengal from this...
durbar including Mir Jafar
Mir Jafar
-Notes:# "Riyazu-s-salatin", Ghulam Husain Salim - a reference to the appointment of Mohanlal can be found # "Seir Muaqherin", Ghulam Husain Tabatabai - a reference to the conspiracy can be found...
, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan. William Watts played a role in forging the grand conspiracy against Siraj Ud Daulah which led to his final overthrow at the Battle of Plassey
Battle of Plassey
The Battle of Plassey , 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years...
. On 5 June 1757 he personally visited Mir Jafar and obtained his oath of allegiance.
In recognition of his services he was given £114,000 from the Nawab's treasury and made the governor of Fort William
Fort William, India
Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the Eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges, during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after King William III of England...
on 22 June 1758, in place of Roger Drake who had deserted the fort when it was attacked and captured in June 1756. This had been the location of the Black Hole of Calcutta
Black Hole of Calcutta
The Black Hole of Calcutta was a small dungeon in the old Fort William, at Calcutta, India, where troops of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, held British prisoners of war after the capture of the Fort on June 19, 1756....
on June 20, 1756.
Four days later he resigned in favour of Robert Clive to return to England.
He wrote a book Memoirs of the Revolution in Bengal which was published in 1764.
On his return to England he built the South Hill Park
South Hill Park
South Hill Park is a site that lies in the Birch Hill estate to the south of Bracknell town centre, in Berkshire, England.-History:The original South Hill Park mansion was built in 1760 for William Watts for his retirement from service as a senior official of the Bengal Government...
mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
which lies to the south of Bracknell
Bracknell
Bracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of central London...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
which is now an Arts Centre
Arts centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for musical performance, workshop areas, educational...
.
In June 1764, he was in the process of buying Hanslope Park, Hanslope
Hanslope
Hanslope is a village in the Borough of Milton Keynes and is the centre of a Civil Parish of the same name. It is about 4 miles WNW of Newport Pagnell, about 4 miles north of Stony Stratford, about 8 miles north of Central Milton Keynes and just south of Northamptonshire. For ceremonial...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, but died in that August. The sale was completed for his son Edward, who became Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
.
William is buried in the Watt vault in Hanslope church.
Family
William was born in 1722 in Glasgow, Scotland.On 24 March 1749 William married Frances Altham, née Croke (10 April [1725] 1728 - 3 February 1812) in Calcutta, the twice-widowed second daughter of Edward Croke or Crook (1690 - 12 Feb 1769) the Governor of Fort St. David, Bengal and Isabella Beizor.
Watt died August 1764, leaving three surviving children (one child, William, died in infancy).
After death
When William Watts died in 1764, Frances returned to India to settle his estate. Although a wealthy young widow aged 36, it was ten years before she married William Johnson in 1774, a chaplain of the Presidency of Fort William. Frances became known as the 'BegumBegum
Begum, Begam or Baigum is a Turkic title given to female family members of a Baig or 'Beg', a higher official. The term Begum is derived from the word Beg, and means a female member of the Beg's family.Also used Begzadi, for Ex...
' Johnson .
By 1787, the Johnson marriage was declared at an end, and Frances offered William a settlement and an annuity, with which he returned to England. Frances was 59 years old and never married again.
She died in Calcutta on 3 February 1812. Her memorial in St Johns Church, Calcutta http://indian-cemeteries.org/viewimage.asp?ID=24 states 'The oldest British resident in Bengal, universally beloved, respected and revered'.