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{{Other people||William Langhorne (disambiguation){{!}}William Langhorne}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sir William Langhorne
| honorific_suffix = [[Baronet|Bt]]
| image = Portrait of Coll. Langhorne (4674502) (cropped).jpg
| order =
| office = Agent of Fort St George (Madras)
| term_start = 1670
| term_end = 1678
| lieutenant =
| predecessor = [[George Foxcroft]]
| successor = [[Streynsham Master]]
| birth_date = {{circa|1631}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = 26 February 1715
| death_place =
| party =
| spouse = Grace Chaworth (1699–1700), Mary Aston (1714–1715)
| profession =
| signature = Langhorn.JPG
}}

'''Sir William Langhorne, 1st Baronet''' ({{circa|1631}} – 26 February 1715) was the [[Governors Of Madras|Agent]] of [[Madras]] from January 1670 to 27 January 1678.<ref name="Tenure">[http://www.worldstatesmen.org/India_BrProvinces.htm#Madras List of Governors of Madras, from ''worldstatesmen.org'']</ref><ref name=odnb>Thomas Seccombe, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16019 'Langhorne, Sir William, baronet (c.1634–1715)'], rev. Andrew Grout, ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', [[Oxford University Press]], 2004, {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/16019}}. Retrieved 14 March 2008. {{ODNBsub}}</ref>

==Family and early life==
William Langhorne was baptised on 26 July 1631 at [[St Gabriel Fenchurch]], the son of William Langhorne and Mary née Oxenbridge.<ref name="International Genealogical Index">[http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: International Genealogical Index]</ref>

Langhorne was born in a well-off family. His uncle [[Needham Langhorne]] left behind a vast fortune upon his death in 1673, his favourite property being the manor of [[Newton Bromswold]] in Northamptonshire. Langhorne was also a distant relation of first President of the United States [[George Washington]].<ref name="JSTOR">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1922017 William Langhorne's ancestry from JSTOR]</ref>

Langhorne's father (also named William) was himself active in the [[East India Company]], and had residences in [[Hitchin]] and in the parish of [[St Gabriel Fenchurch]] in the [[City of London]].<ref name=odnb />

Langhorne [[matriculation|entered]] [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] on 23 October 1649.<ref>{{acad|id=LNN649W|name=Langhorne, William}}</ref> After taking his degree he became a [[barrister]] with his admission to [[Gray's Inn]] on 6 August 1664 but there is no evidence that he actively practised as a lawyer. Following his father's death he inherited stock in the [[Honourable East India Company|East India Company]], began to make money and was created a [[baronet]] (in the [[Baronetage of England]]) in 1668.<ref name=odnb />

==Tenure as Agent of Madras ==
Langhorne arrived in Madras in 1670 to adjudicate in a dispute between Sir [[Edward Winter (English administrator)|Edward Winter]] and [[George Foxcroft]].<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Talboys Wheeler|author-link=James Talboys Wheeler|title=Madras in the Olden Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWZK3tZ8P4UC|volume=1|year=1861|location=Madras|publisher=J. Higginbotham|page=88|isbn=9788120605534}}</ref> A few months later, he was appointed as the [[Governors Of Madras|Agent of Madras]]<ref name="chennaibest" /> based at [[Fort St. George, India|Fort St. George]].

===French siege of St Thome===
In 1670, England under [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] withdrew from the [[Triple Alliance (1668)|Triple Alliance]] and concluded peace with the French. Hostilities broke out with the British taking the side of the French against the Dutch thereby triggering the [[Third Anglo-Dutch War]].

Hostilities were triggered on the [[Coromandel Coast]] when a French fleet of twelve ships of the newly established [[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East India Company]] commanded by Admiral De La Haye landed with three hundred men along the coast of [[Santhome|St Thome]] and besieged the town which was under the sovereignty of [[Golkonda|Golconda]]. In July 1672, St Thome was stormed compelling the [[Abul Hasan Qutb Shah|Sultan of Golconda]] to approach the British [[East India Company]] (EIC) at Madraspatnam. The factors at Madras, who were [[Protestants]] like the Dutch, secretly nourished pro-Dutch and anti-French sympathies. But the alliance that the British had with the French in Europe landed them in a dilemma. William Langhorne, the Agent of Madras, despite his hatred of the French, chose to remain inactive.

In the meantime, a Dutch fleet under Rickloff Van Goens, the Governor-General of [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch India]], laid siege to St Thome but were unsuccessful. An engagement took place between the Dutch fleet of fourteen ships and a British fleet of ten ships on 22 August 1673 in which three ships belonging to the EIC were sunk.

The French at St Thome who expected the British to help them against the Dutch were disheartened. They strengthened their fortifications at St Thome and established a new camp at [[Triplicane]] thereby posing a direct threat to the British settlement at Madras. The British held a consultation on 2 February 1674, but before the authorities could come to a conclusion of the proposed course of action, news of the [[Treaty of Westminster (1674)|Treaty of Westminster]] concluded between England and Holland reached Fort St George thereby bringing hostilities to an end. The French at St Thome surrendered to the Dutch on 16 August 1674 who in turn handed over the city to the authorities of the Sultan of Golconda thereby bringing the hostilities to an end. Triplicane was liberated in 1672 and made over to the British East India Company at an annual rent of 50 pagodas.<ref>[http://www.chennaicorporation.com/about-chennai-corporation/orginandGrowth.htm ''On the Acquisition of Suburban Villages'' from the Website of the Corporation of Chennai]</ref>

===Payment of tribute===
Despite its official existence as an independent entity, the Agency of Madras paid a tribute of 1200 pagodas to Neiknam Khan, the commander-in-chief of Golconda and later, his son Mirza Ibrahim Khan during the whole length of Langhorne's tenure. The Agency also paid an annual tribute to one Madan Pant who was the Prime Minister of Golconda. From 1674 onwards, the Agency also paid a regular tribute to the Naik of [[Chengalpattu|Chingleput]] and [[Pallavaram]] who were regarded as "old friends of the Company" apart from Lingappa, the Naik of [[Poonamallee]].

===Hostilities with Golconda===
Around this time, Lingappa, the Naik of Poonamallee turned against the British when they refused to pay tribute. He complained to Golconda on the arrogance of the British of Madras exhorting the Qutb Shah of Golconda to invade and capture [[Fort St George]]. However, as the Qutb Shah was making plans to invade Madras the invasion of the [[Marathas]] consumed his attention. Madras was spared from an invasion but restrictions were imposed on trade with the colony. Trade of rice and corn were forbidden and Madras was required to present a thousand hundred yards of cloth along with an increased tribute.

The Company yielded at once and presented Golconda as well as Lingappa Naik to appease. The influence that Lingappa wielded increased manifold and he held supreme power between Armaghaum and [[Bijapur, Karnataka|Bijapur]].

===Religious tolerance===
According to 19th century historian [[James Talboys Wheeler]], Langhorne was "far more tolerant of the religious opinions of others, than could have been expected in that intolerant age". He was reprimanded by the directors of the EIC "for firing your guns upon the naming of a church by the [[papist]]s; we cannot approve thereof, and desire to give as little countenance and encouragement to that religion, as they do to ours; and we would have you discountenance, and discourage all of our nation that any ways incline to that profession."<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Talboys Wheeler|author-link=James Talboys Wheeler|title=Madras in the Olden Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWZK3tZ8P4UC|volume=1|year=1861|location=Madras|publisher=J. Higginbotham|pages=87–88|isbn=9788120605534}}</ref>

===Charges of private trade and recall===
In 1676, charges of [[privateer|private trade]] were brought forth against William Langhorne by the Directors of the company. Major James Puckle who was sent to investigate the charges concluded that Langhorne was receiving an annual sum of 20,000 pagodas from an Indian merchant of Fort St George called Casa Verona (Kasi Veeranna). Both denied the accusations. Other sources state that he had a private income of £7000 a year, well above the £300 allowed by the company.<ref name=odnb /> However, despite Langhorne's violent protests he was recalled in January 1678 and replaced with [[Streynsham Master]] as the Agent of Madras.

==Later life and death==
Langhorne amassed an enormous fortune through private illegal trade carried out during his tenure as the Agent of Madras and through trade with the Levant. Having arrived back in England he purchased the [[manorialism|manor]] of [[Charlton, London|Charlton, Kent]] in 1680. This estate had previously been owned by [[Viscount Downe|William Ducie]]. In 1707 he also purchased [[Hampstead]], [[Middlesex]].<ref name="JSTOR" /> His marriage to Grace Chaworth, the Dowager Viscountess Chaworth, a sister of [[John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland]] made him one of the richest men in England, despite lasting less than year before she died on 15 February 1700.<ref name=odnb /><ref name="JSTOR" /> On 16 October 1714 he remarried to one Mary Aston.<ref name=odnb /> He died on 26 February 1715 at the age of 85 without leaving behind any direct heirs to his fortune, his baronetcy became extinct on his death.<ref name=odnb /><ref name="JSTOR" /> He is buried in Charlton Parish Church.<ref name=odnb />

Of his fortune, his will which was [[probate|proved]] on 8 March 1715, left at least £1600 to be used in a similar manner to [[Queen Anne's Bounty]], providing increased income to the clergy of poorer [[benefice]]s. The Charlton estate was inherited by [[Conyers baronets|Sir John Conyers, bt]], his sister's son.<ref name=odnb /> and the Hampstead estate by his other nephew William Langhorn Games and after Games' death without male issue by a cousin, Margaret Maryon. [Woodford FP & Croughton D. The legend of fourteen remainders. Camden History Review 2016 Vol 40 pp 7–9]

==Legacy==
It was during the tenure of Sir William Langhorne that the residency of the Agents of Madras, a garden-house called the Guindy Lodge, was constructed.<ref name="chennaibest">[http://www.chennaibest.com/discoverchennai/sightseeing/history/feature02.asp A biography of William Langhorne from chennaibest.com]</ref> On India's independence, this became the Raj Bhavan and is the official residence of the governor of Tamil Nadu. It was also during this time that an Office of Archives was established to maintain the records of the Agency.<ref name="chennaibest" /> The Council Room of Fort St George was allocated for this purpose. This later became the Madras Record Office. In 1909, the office was shifted to Egmore and has since become the Tamil Nadu State Archives. The Tamil Nadu State Archives is, therefore, one of the oldest record-keeping offices of the world and certainly the oldest such institution established by the British East India Company.<ref name="chennaibest" />

== References ==
{{Wikisource|Langhorne, Sir William (DNB00)}}
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Wheeler, J. T. (1861). Madras in the olden time: being a history of the presidency from the first foundation. Madras, Printed for J. Higginbotham by Graves and co.

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef | before = [[George Foxcroft]]}}
{{s-ttl | title = [[Agencies of British India|Agent]] of [[Madras]]
| years = 1670–1678}}
{{s-aft | after = [[Streynsham Master]]}}

{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new | creation}}
{{s-ttl | title = [[Langhorne baronets|Baronet]]<br />'''(of Inner Temple)'''
| years = 1668–1715}}
{{s-non | reason = Extinct}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langhorne, Sir William, 1st Baronet}}
[[Category:Governors of Madras]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of England]]
[[Category:Administrators in British India]]
[[Category:1630s births]]
[[Category:1715 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]

Sir William Langhorne, 1st Baronet - Revision history

DottyN0357445099: starting the post more to come.