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{{Short description|1700s–1830 Agency House in British India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Palmer and Company
| logo =
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| type = Agency House
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| founded = 18th century in [[British India]]
| founders = John Palmer (1767 - 1836)
| hq_location = [[Hyderabad]]
| hq_location_city = [[Hyderabad]], [[Hyderabad State]]
| hq_location_country = [[Company rule in India|British India]]
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| area_served = [[Company rule in India|British India]]
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| services = Trading and Banking
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The '''Palmer and Company, Limited''', often simply called '''Palmer and Co.''' was an [[Agency Houses in British India|Agency House in British India]] founded by John Palmer (1767-1836), son of General William Palmer (1740-1816) and his first wife Sarah Hazell. Palmer and Co. was the largest [[Agency Houses in British India|Agency House in British India]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=https://www.rarebooksocietyofindia.org/book_archive/196174216674_10153552137596675.pdf |title=The Nizam, his history and relations with the British government |via=rarebooksocietyofindia.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asianage.com/ideas/returning-nabobs-and-slice-india-938|title=The returning Nabobs and a slice of India|first=Swagata|last=Ghosh|date=15 August 2016|website=The Asian Age}}</ref>

Another banking company William Palmer and Company was started in 1810 in Hyderabad by William Palmer (1780-1867), also known as "King Palmer", son of General William Palmer (1740-1816) and his second wife Bibi Faiz Bakhsh ‘Faiz-un-Nisa’ Begum (died 1828) who came from the Oudh ruling family along with the Gujarati moneylender Benkati Das. A partner in this company would later be Sir William Rumbold, 3rd Baronet (1787–1833).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leonard |first=Karen |date=2013 |title=Palmer and Company: an Indian Banking Firm in Hyderabad State |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0026749X12000236/type/journal_article |journal=Modern Asian Studies |language=en |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=1157–1184 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X12000236 |issn=0026-749X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== History ==

=== Background ===

Before the advent of joint-stock banking companies in India, the role of banks was played by agency houses. The agency houses performed various quasi-banking functions which included but were not limited to:<ref name="auto3">{{cite web|title=History of Banking|url=https://lkouniv.ac.in/site/writereaddata/siteContent/202004051341563589anurag_sriv_History_banking.pdf|access-date=27 May 2021|website=Ikouniv.ac.in}}</ref>

* Accepting deposits (agency houses accepted deposits only from British nationals and other Europeans)
* Financing trade
* Lending of money (primarily to the Government)

=== Business ===

The Palmer and Co. was founded with the name Paxton, Cockerell and Trail. Their name was later changed to Palmer and Co.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hbs.edu/businesshistory/Documents/roy-trading-firms-colonial-india.pdf |title=Trading Firms in Colonial India |first=Tirthankar |last=Roy |author-link=Tirthankar Roy}}</ref>

In 1829, Palmer and Co. financed and exported more than 16% of all the [[Indigo dye|Indigo]] produced in [[British India]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thetchblog.com/2020/06/29/indias-indigo-crash/|title=India's Indigo Crash |date=29 June 2020}}</ref> As a result, Palmer and Co. came to be known as the ''Indigo King of Bengal''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ehsthelongrun.net/2017/03/14/agency-house-crises-in-india-what-role-did-indigo-play/ |title=Agency House Crises in India: What Role Did Indigo Play? |date=14 March 2017 |access-date=28 May 2021 |archive-date=20 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120104659/https://ehsthelongrun.net/2017/03/14/agency-house-crises-in-india-what-role-did-indigo-play/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Failure ===

The Palmer and Co. agency house failed in the year 1830 due to major economic downturn affecting the [[Company rule in India|British India]]. The main cause of the economic crisis was the unexpected fall in the prices of commodities such as Indigo.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bhan |first=Aditya |url=https://www.gatewayhouse.in/indian-banking-history/ |title=Indian banking's chequered history - Gateway House |publisher=Gatewayhouse.in |date= |accessdate=2022-05-14}}</ref>

== Controversies ==

[[Charles Russell (1786–1856)]] was implicated in a corruption scandal where [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings|Lord Hastings]], a [[Governor-General of India]], was alleged to have acted partially on behalf of Palmer and Company, a Hyderabad banking house. The Russells were found to have been involved in and profited from the firm's dealings with the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]], [[Mir Akbar Ali Khan Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III|Mir Akbar Ali Khan]], directly from Hastings' 1816 decision to exempt the house from a ban on lending money to native princes. Henry Russell's successor, [[Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe|Sir Charles Metcalfe]], discovered a loan in 1820 that was both fictitious and fraudulent.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~kbleonar/bio/Karen%20Leonard%20Family%20Firms%20in%20Hyderabad.pdf |doi=10.1017/S0010417511000429 |title=Family Firms in Hyderabad: Gujarati, Goswami, and Marwari Patterns of Adoption, Marriage, and Inheritance |year=2011 |last1=Leonard |first1=Karen Isaksen |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=827–854 |s2cid=85553204 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sunoindia.in/beyond-charminar/the-nizam-era-banking-scandal-which-shocked-hyderabad/|title=The Nizam-era banking scandal which shocked Hyderabad - Suno India|date=15 February 2020}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cultural.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/WARDHA/his_berar.html |title=The Gazetteers Department - Wardha |publisher=Cultural.maharashtra.gov.in |date= |accessdate=2022-05-14}}</ref><ref name="auto"/>

==See also==
{{portal|Companies}}
* [[Banking in India]]
* [[Company rule in India]]
* [[Economy of India under Company rule]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links==
* [https://www.rarebooksocietyofindia.org/book_archive/196174216674_10153552137596675.pdf History of Palmer and Company]
* [https://www.hbs.edu/businesshistory/Documents/roy-trading-firms-colonial-india.pdf History of Palmer and Company]

[[Category:Economic history of India]]
[[Category:Trading companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Companies based in Hyderabad, India]]

Palmer and Company - Revision history

KristiBruno654: Added a pg