Francis Day (Madras)
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Francis Day (1605–1673) was an administrator associated with the
Early life
Francis Day was born to William Day of Bray and his wife Helen Wentworth, the daughter of a member of the House of Commons. He is believed to be the grandson of William Day, who was appointed Bishop of Winchester in 1595. Francis completed his education from Eton College and joined the services of the East India Company in 1632.
Purchase of Madras
In 1637, Francis Day, then a member of the Masulipatnam Council and Chief of the Armagon Factory, undertook a voyage of exploration down the
It is widely presumed[
Day also had other reasons to choose
Day was, however, sorely criticised by captains of
The chief difficulty, as usual with the English in those days, was lack of money. At last, in February 1640, Day and Cogan accompanied by a few factors and writers, a garrison of about 25 European soldiers and a few other European artificers, besides a Hindu powder-maker by name Naga Battan, proceeded to Madras and started the English factory. They reached Madraspatnam on 20 February; and this date is important because it marks the first actual settlement of the English at the place. [1]
Construction of Fort St George
Day and Cogan were jointly responsible for the construction of
The bastions were first built and erection of the curtain walls connecting them proceeded more slowly as funds permitted. The whole Fort took fourteen years to construct and was finished only in 1653. It measured about 100 yards by north to south and by 80 yards east to west. On its northern and southern sides buildings and streets sprang up and constituted what came to be known later as the White Town.
Indian merchants and artificers were attracted to the settlement and encouraged to build houses therein under a promise of exemptions from import taxes for a period of thirty years. It is said that within the first year of the life of the settlement, there arose some seventy to eighty substantial houses to the north and south of the Fort while in the village of Madraspatnam nearly four hundred families of weavers had come to settle permanently.
See also
- Governors of Madras
References
- ^ http://www.chennai.tn.nic.in/chndistprof.htm#hist Archived 14 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine from Official website, Chennai district profile, history.
- ^ Muthiah, S. (March, 2004) "First city of modern India", Seminar 535, p 14.