JacksonCazaly4: Adding the bio from scratch.

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Adding the bio from scratch.

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{{Short description|British colonial official (1762–1825)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| image = John Fendall.jpg
| caption = John Fendall, {{circa|1812–1820}}
| office = [[Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies|British Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies]]
| term_start = 12 March 1816
| term_end = 19 August 1816
| appointer = [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings|Marquess of Hastings]]
| monarch = [[George III]]
| predecessor = [[Stamford Raffles|Thomas Stamford Raffles]]
| successor = {{ubl|''Position abolished''|([[Godert van der Capellen]], [[Cornelis Theodorus Elout]], [[Arnold Adriaan Buyskes]] as [[Commissioners-General of the Dutch East Indies|Commissioners-General]])}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1762|10|09|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[London]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1825|11|10|1762|10|09|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], British India
| resting_place = [[South Park Street Cemetery]]
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Mary Farquharson|1790|1818|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Harriet Halcott|1820}}}}
| children = 8 children
}}

'''John Fendall''' (9 October 1762 – 10 November 1825) was a colonial official in the British [[East India Company]], a member of the [[Supreme Council of Bengal]], and the last British governor of [[Java]].

==Early life and service in East India Company==
[[File:John Fendall Jr..jpg|thumb|An illustration of Fendall]]
Fendall was born on 9 October 1762 in [[St Andrew Holborn (parish)|St Andrew Holborn]], London.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Campbell|first=Donald Maclaine|url=https://archive.org/details/javapastpresentd01camp/page/402/mode/2up|title=Java: Past & Present|publisher=William Heinemann|year=1915|isbn=|volume=I|location=London|pages=402–407}}</ref> He began service in the [[East India Company]] in 1778 at the age of 16, before becoming First Assistant to the Collector of [[Murshidabad district|Murshidabad]], [[Sir John D'Oyly, 6th Baronet|Sir John D’Oyly]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Galloway |first=Francesca |url=https://francescagalloway.com/usr/documents/exhibitions/list_of_works_url/31/the-louisa-parlby-album.pdf |title=The Louisa Parlby Album Watercolours from Murshidabad 1795–1803 |publisher=Francesca Galloway |year=2017 |isbn=9780956914767 |page=22}}</ref> In 1788 he became Acting Magistrate of Murshidabad, and in 1790, Acting Collector for the East India Company in the Murshidabad district.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmaZxgEACAAJ |title=Bengal District Records |publisher=Bengal Secretariat Book Depot |year=1914 |pages=164, 201}}</ref>

In 1790 he had become Collector of [[Midnapore|Midnapur]] and had attained the status of Senior Merchant.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bhattacharya |first=Chandrima S. |date=10 November 2023 |title=Yesterdate: This day from Kolkata's past, November 10, 1825 |work=Telegraph India |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/amp/my-kolkata/news/yesterdate-this-day-from-kolkatas-past-november-10-1825/cid/1978881 |access-date=10 December 2023}}</ref> He returned to London in 1809 for the first time in 31 years. The voyage at that time took 5 ½ months to complete.

==Governor of Java==
Fendall returned to [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] in 1815 and was informed he had been appointed [[List of Governors of the Dutch East Indies|Lieutenant-Governor of Java]], an island the British acquired following the [[Invasion of Java (1811)|Invasion of Java]] in 1811. On 12 March 1816<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-97zaRMazHoC&pg=PP1 |title=Proclamations, Regulations, Advertisements, and Orders, Printed and Published in the Island of Java: From 9th October 1815 to 19th August 1816. |publisher=Hubbard |year=1816 |pages=16–17}}</ref> by the last advice from [[Jakarta|Batavia]], John relieved a sickly Sir [[Stamford Raffles]] as Lieutenant-Governor of [[Java]], an island which is now a part of the Republic of [[Indonesia]]. Upon his arrival, Fendall was faced with significant administrative arrears and a treasury that was almost depleted, challenges he began to address immediately.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Hannigan |first=Tim |title=Raffles and the British invasion of Java |publisher=Monsoon Books Pte Ltd |year=2012 |isbn=978-981-4358-85-9 |edition=4th |location=Singapore |page=229}}</ref> Fendall ensured that the ailing Raffles continued to receive the courtesies due to the position of Lieutenant-Governor.<ref name=":2" /> [[Thomas Otho Travers]], an aide-de-camp to Raffles, noted Fendall’s character, describing him as having ‘a mild, placid temper’.<ref name=":2" />

===Sovereignty dispute over Banjarmasin===
In the process of transferring Java back to Dutch control, Fendall faced diplomatic challenges, notably regarding the status of [[Banjarmasin]] in [[Borneo]]. Fendall encountered a paradoxical situation with conflicting stipulations of the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814]] and a separate 1812 treaty between the East India Company and the Sultan of Banjarmasin. The 1814 treaty mandated the transfer of Banjarmasin to Dutch control, while the 1812 treaty explicitly forbade its transfer to any other European power.<ref name=":3" />

Faced with the limitations of slow communication and the absence of situation-specific guidance from the British government,<ref name=":3" /> Fendall endeavoured to buy time. He aimed to convince the Dutch that their claim to Banjarmasin was baseless, asserting the territory had been deserted by the Dutch, and was therefore exempt from the terms of the 1814 treaty.<ref name=":3" />

Fendall leveraged historical records from Java, showing [[Herman Willem Daendels|Marshal Herman Willem Daendels’]] complete withdrawal from southern Borneo in 1809 and his relinquishment of Dutch claims there. He identified that Banjarmasin was not included among the territories ceded to the British in 1811 by [[Jan Willem Janssens|General Jan Willem Janssens]], but was instead acquired following the Dutch desertion. While the Dutch dismissed these points, arguing Daendels’ withdrawal was a military act without governmental authority, Fendall asserted that any overreach by Daendels was a matter for the Dutch government, not the British. This stance, asserting the finality of Daendels’ actions and their recognition by the Sultan of Banjarmasin, significantly weakened the Dutch negotiating position. Consequently, the Dutch Commissioners-General abandoned this argument, yet they persisted in their demand that Banjarmasin was returned to them without delay, in accordance with the 1814 treaty. This unwavering stance from both sides led to an impasse.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Brill |first=Irwin |date=1955 |title=The Restoration of Dutch Rule |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvbnm4tq.8 |journal=Nineteenth-Century Borneo: A Study in Diplomatic Rivalry |volume=15 |page=44 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctvbnm4tq.8 }}</ref>

The British proceeded to restore sovereignty of the territory to the Sultan in November 1816.<ref name=":3" /> In January 1817, the Sultan signed a separate contract with the Netherlands, affording the Dutch sovereignty over Banjarmasin.<ref name=":3" />

===Cessation of British rule in Java===
In 1816, the Dutch sent a fleet to reclaim possession of [[Java]]. However, Fendall had not received orders from the Governor-General, and therefore, stoutly refused to give up possession, and the Dutch had to wait until the orders came. On 19 August, of the same year, the Dutch resumed possession, thus making Fendall the last British Lieutenant-Governor of the island. Fendall left [[Java]] in June 1818, on the ship ''Caesar,'' with the Dutch according him all honours on departure.<ref name=":0" />

==Later career, dispute, and Supreme Council appointment==
Fendall returned to Calcutta in 1818 and took his seat on the Bench of the [[Sadr Diwani Adalat]] (the predecessor of the High Court), becoming Chief Judge in 1819.<ref name=":1" /> An area nearby this courthouse (adaulat) was later named Findalbagh, derivative from Fendall.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=O’Malley |first=L.S.S |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.105561/page/n7/mode/1up |title=Bengal District Gazetteers, Murshidabad |publisher=Bengal Secretariat Book Depot |year=1914 |page=218}}</ref>

===Dispute with Colonel Yule===
During his tenure in Java, Fendall appears to have disapproved a financial claim made by a certain Colonel Yule. As a result, Yule followed him to Calcutta and demanded that he should alter his decision. After Fendall refused, Yule responded by brushing the papers against his face in a confrontational manner, suggesting Fendall take it as a personal insult. This, Fendall was quite ready to do and sent for a friend, named Assey, to take a challenge to the Colonel. Assey refused to have anything to do with a challenge, in spite of Fendall’s protests, and took the matter to various members of Council. The Council agreed that Fendall could not be called on to defend an official act in such a way and that Yule’s conduct was highly insubordinate. As the Governor-General agreed with them, Fendall was forbidden to fight and his opponent apologised to escape being tried by [[court martial]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fendall, Crutchley |first=C.P., E. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZVtAAAAQBAJ&dq=fendall+assey+yule&pg=PA217 |title=The Diary of Benjamin Newton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9781107683389 |pages=217–218}}</ref>

===Supreme Council appointment===
Fendall was transferred to [[Bengal]], and was appointed a member of the [[Supreme Council of Bengal]] on 20 May 1820, which constituted membership in the [[Bengal Civil Service]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSMJAAAAQAAJ&q=john+fendall+jr+supreme+council+of+bengal&pg=PR175 |title=The Quarterly Oriental Magazine, Review, and Register: Part 76, Volume 4 |publisher=Thacker and Company |year=1825 |pages=175 (clxxv)}}</ref> In 1823 was appointed President of the Board of Trade on the Bengal Establishment. During his time on the Council, he took part in deliberations concerning land revenue policy, as evidenced by his participation in the council’s proceedings on specific dates in 1820, showing his endorsement for a fixed revenue system in the northern territories under British administration.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Husain |first=Mohammed Intiaz |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/34064/1/11015873.pdf |title=The Formation of British Land Revenue Policy in the Ceded and Conquered Provinces of Northern India, 1801- 1833 |publisher=School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) |year=1964 |page=236}}</ref>

[[File:Gravestone of John Fendall (1762 – 1825).jpg|thumb|Gravestone of John Fendall, South Park Street Cemetery, Kolkata]]
Fendall died on 10 November 1825 in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]]<ref name=":0" /> and was buried at [[South Park Street Cemetery]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-HwSiLns14C |title=The Bengal Obituary: Or, a Record to Perpetuate the Memory of Departed Worth, Being a Compilation of Tablets and Monumental Inscriptions from Various Parts of the Bengal and Agra Presidencies |publisher=W. Thacker & Company |year=1851 |page=116}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=South Park Street Cemetery, Calcutta, Register of Graves and Standing Tombs: from 1767 |publisher=British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA) |year=2019 |isbn=9780907799931 |edition=2nd |pages=16}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Fendall married first in 1790, Mary Farquharson (1761–1818), the daughter of John Farquharson of [[Yateley]], Hampshire, England, a scion of the family of Farquharson of Fingean. They had seven children, William Fendall (1793–1888), Mary Fendall (later Mary D'Oyly) (1794–1885), Harriet Fendall (later Harriet Thompson) (1797–1842), Harriet Fendall (later Harriet Moultrie) (1797–1867), Louisa Fendall (1799–1899), James Fendall (1801–1866) and Sophia Fendall (1805–1808).

Fendall married second, Harriet "Henrietta" Halcott (died 1871) in 1820. They had one son, Thomas Halcott Fendall (1825–1865).

Fendall had two residences. One was at [[Harewood Square]], Marylebone, London, England. The other was 67 Great Portland St., Marylebone, London, England, a house that had belonged to his grandfather.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Stamford Raffles|Thomas Stamford Raffles]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies|Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies]]|years=1816}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Godert van der Capellen]]|after2=[[Cornelis Theodorus Elout]]|after3=[[Arnold Adriaan Buyskes]]|as=[[Commissioners-General of the Dutch East Indies|Commissioners-General]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{VOC Governors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fendall, John}}
[[Category:British East India Company civil servants]]
[[Category:British rule in Indonesia]]
[[Category:1825 deaths]]
[[Category:1762 births]]

John Fendall - Revision history

JacksonCazaly4: Adding the bio from scratch.