168 THE PITT FAMILY OF BLAND FORD ST. MARY. 



of their own rights. Their officials strongly resented his 

 intrusion, and under the name of an " interloper " he is 

 frequently spoken of with severe complaint in the despatches 

 sent home. Madras, or Fort St. George, as it was then 

 known, was the chief " factory " of the Company on the 

 Eastern coast, and the governor of that place was Sir Strenshani 

 Master. A gentleman, who is directly descended from Sir 

 Strensham, lent to me a book published by the Hakluyt 

 Society, which contains various letters and documents 

 bearing directly on this early part of the history of Thomas 

 Pitt. This book is the Diary of Sir W. Hedges, an Indian 

 official who collected materials for the history of Madras, 

 which in the end he never wrote. From this diary many of 

 my facts are drawn. 



For nine years Pitt seems to have been a thorn in the side 

 of Sir Strensham. At one time he ordered him peremptorily 

 to leave the country ; but Pitt seems to have disregarded 

 all such warning, and to have come and gone pretty well as 

 he pleased. He is spoken of by the Governor as " that 

 roughly and immoral man," and his trade is termed 

 " pyrottical." No doubt it was difficult in the early days for 

 the Company to enforce all the authority which the English 

 Government had intended to bestow, and the jealous rivalry 

 of the Dutch afforded encouragement and shelter to any 

 enemies ; but on the extension of the Charter in 1661, and 

 the cession of Bombay to them in 1668, the power and prestige 

 of the Company was no doubt greatly increased. 



Taking up again the records of Pitt's adventurous life, 

 we find him in England in 1681 the year of Lord Shaftes- 

 bury's trial and back in India and making money fast in 

 1682 ; again returning in 1683 to the old country. We then 

 seem to lose sight of him for five years, and in 1688 find that 

 he has purchased the estate of Old Sarum, and is returned as 

 one of the members for that borough in the Convention 

 Parliament. He and Mr. J. Young, his fellow member, were 

 soon unseated, presumably for corruption, but in the follow- 

 ing year he was duly elected for New Sarum, and entered 



