1898.] C. R. Wilson— An unrecorded Governor of Bengal. 
167 
An unrecorded Governor of Fort William in Bengal.—By C. R. 
Wilson, -M. A. 
[ Read April, 1898. ] 
It is well known that the commonly received lists of the early 
Governors of Bengal are very imperfect. Quite recently, in 1888, Mr. 
F. C. Danvers, Registrar and Superintendent of the India Office Records, 
drew np a statement and memorandum tracing the Bengal Chiefs, 
Agents, and Governors, from the earliest dates. Yet even he has 
failed to notice the Governor of whose history this paper is intended 
to be a brief record. He was, it is true, Governor for little more than 
a single day, but his life more than covers the interval between 
Charnock and Clive, and the man himself is an interesting personality 
in the factory period. 
Edward Stephenson 1 was born in Cumberland in the year 1691, 
his baptism being recorded in the parish register of Crosthwaite under 
the date of the 8th October of that year. His father was Edward 
Stephenson of Keswick. Through his mother Rebecca, he was con¬ 
nected with the Winders of Lorton and of the City of London. The 
pedigree of the Winders of Lorton has been investigated with great 
care by Mr. F. A. Winder of Southsea, Portsmouth, 2 to whom I am 
indebted for much of the information which follows. Here it will be 
sufficient to say that John Winder of Lorton, who died in May, 1696, 
left behind a numerous family among whom were his eldest son and 
heir John Winder, barrister-at-law of Gray’s Inn ; Samuel Winder, a 
merchant at Mark Lane, London; Jonathan Winder, his third son, who 
entered the New East India Company’s service, and was from 1705 to 
1707 one of the two Chairmen of the United Council in Bengal; and 
Rebecca who married, as has been said, Edward Stephenson of Keswick, 
by whom she had two sons, Edward and John, and a daughter, Debora. 
1 He signs “ Edwd. Stephenson,” and so the India Office Records always spell 
the name. The parish register has “ Steavenson.” 
* See his paper on the subject in Yol. X1Y. of the Transactions of the Cum¬ 
berland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. 
