Family and Education

unm. Gov. of Bombay 1729-34. Kntd. 31 Jan. 1736.

Offices Held

Biography

Of unknown parentage, Cowan, an official of the East India Company, was recalled in December 1734 as a result of complaints made against him by merchants, being refused the customary vote of thanks by the company’s court.1 Soon after his return from India he was put up as a Whig for Tregony by Walpole in 1737 as ‘a moneyed man and a sure hand’.2 He died a few days later on 21 Feb., leaving his fortune to his half-brother,3 a free merchant at Bombay.4

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Court bks. 13 Jan. 1729, 22 Dec. 1731, 26 Jan. 1732, 10 Aug. 1733, 18 Feb. 1735, India Office Recs.
• 2. Sir Chas. Wager to Sir Robt. Walpole, 24 July 1736, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss.
• 3. Gent. Mag. 1737, pp. 125, 253.
• 4. European inhabitants Bombay 1719-87, India Office Recs.