William Bolts
A Dutch Adventurer under John Company

A biography of William Bolts, one of 'the most remarkable civilian adventurers of the eighteenth century in the territories of the East India Company'.

N. L. Hallward (Author)

9781107502116, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 April 2015

222 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.33 kg

Originally published in 1920, this book contains a biography of William Bolts, one of 'the most remarkable civilian adventurers of the eighteenth century in the territories of the East India Company'. Hallward paints a vivid picture of Bolts as one of the many destabilising European agents operating in the Far East at a time of great colonial tension as well as a shrewd merchant. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in colonial India and European expansionism.

Book I: 1. Appointment and early career in Bengal
2. Governor Vansittart's campaign against trade abuses
3. The oppression of the English Gomastahs
4. Messrs Johnstone, Hay, and Bolts's agent vindicated
5. The unscrupulousness of Mr Bolts
6. Mr Bolts suspended from the company's service
7. Elopement of Mrs Bolts
8. Mr Bolts's appointment as alderman and his resignation of the service
9. The intrigue against Nobkissen
10. Mr Bolts's contumacy
11. Mr Bolts's intrigue with the Nawab of Oudh
12. Mr Bolts's alleged intrigue with the Dutch
13. 'Willing to wound'
14. Mr Bolts's deportation and his petition to the directors
15. The right of expulsion
16. The directors on Mr Bolts's expulsion
17. Mr Bolts's attorneys and the Bengal council
18. Mr Bolts in England
Book II: 1. Mr Bolts and the Empress Maria Theresa
2. Mr Bolts and the Chevalier de St Lubin: intrigues at Poona
3. Mr Bolts at Bombay, and the intercepted letter
4. Mr Bolts on the Malabar coast and at Chinsura
5. Return to Europe: the imperial ambassador supports his complaint
6. The reconstitution of the Ostend company
7. Contemporary writers on Mr Bolts
8. Last years
Appendix. Petition to the grand jury
Index.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]