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{{Short description|British East India Company judge (1751–1793)}}
[[File:SuetoniusGrant.jpg|thumb|Suetonius Grant Heatly and his sister, Temperance. ([[Arthur William Devis]], c. 1786)]]
'''Suetonius Grant Heatly''' (sometimes spelled as ''Heatley''; 1751–1793) was a judge employed by the [[East India Company|British East India Company]] and, with John Sumner, established what is considered to be the first coal mine in India.<ref name=Manners1920pp180-181>Manners & Williamson (1920), pp. 180–181.</ref>

Heatly was born in [[Newport, Rhode Island]], in what is now the United States, to a family that had a Scottish heritage.and was loyal to the [[British Crown]]. That loyalty caused them to move to England around the time of the [[American Revolution]]. His connections and ability were useful in his career with the East India Company, which he joined in 1766 and for which he held various offices.

Grant and his colleague, Sumner, saw potential in the extraction of coal in India and attempted to capitalise on that and their relationship with the East India Company, which they envisaged as being a significant purchaser. Their project involved several mine workings, the precise location of which has been debated. It was beset by problems, including those related to extraction, logistics and disease, and eventually petered out. Sumner had left before its demise, and others had become involved.

Heatly, who never married but may have formed a relationship with a native Indian woman, died in 1793.

==Early life==
Heatly was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1751. He was the oldest son of a merchant, Andrew Heatly, and his wife, Mary (née Grant), both of whom were of Scots descent. His younger siblings included a brother, Patrick, and a sister, Temperance.{{efn|Patrick Heatly (1753, Rhode Island – 1834, London) was also an employee of the East India Company, working first in India and then as a member of its "secret Council" in England. Temperance married a captain of the [[Royal Navy]], William Green, possibly while also in India, and eventually settled in [[Utica, New York]], USA.<ref name=Manners1920pp180-181/>}} Another sister, Mary, was the mother of the historian, [[cartography|cartographer]] and administrator of [[Rajasthan]], [[James Tod]].<ref name=Manners1920pp180-181/>

The Heatly family was loyal to the British crown, and those of the family living in America at the time of the American Revolution against British control chose to leave. Temperance subsequently returned after being married.<ref name=Manners1920pp180-181/>

==East India Company==
[[File:Johan Joseph Zoffany - Patrick Heatly - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of Patrick Heatly, brother of Suetonius Grant Heatly and administrator for the [[East India Company]], by [[Johann Zoffany]].]]
Heatly joined the East India Company as a "writer" in 1766, and later worked as a merchant.<ref name=Christies2006>Christie's (2006)</ref> His easy manner, his family's loyalty to Britain, and his connections to other American royalists stood him in good stead within the Company at the time of the American Revolution and beyond. When [[Cornwallis]] was appointed [[Governor-General of India]], still smarting from his military defeats in America, Heatly became a favourite.<ref name="Heatly 1842, p. 823">Heatly (1842), p. 823.</ref> He was [[District collector|Collector]] of [[Chota Nagpur Division|Chotanagpur]] and [[Palamu district|Palamu]] by 1774<ref name=Thacker1940p479>Thacker & Bahadur (1940), p. 479.</ref><ref name=Hunter1876pp122-123>Hunter (1876), pp. 122-123.</ref> and by 1783 he held a similar position for [[Purnia Division|Purnia]].<ref name=Christies2006/> He held that position still in 1788.<ref>East India Company (1789), p. 15.</ref>

He became a [[magistrate]] for the province of Dana<ref name=Manners1920pp180-181/> and at the time of his death was the chief judge of appeals for [[Dhaka|Decca]].<ref>Holmes (1837), p. 59.</ref>

Although Heatly worked for the Company, one of his contemporaries – William Green – suggested that he could be used as a conduit for letters which might subvert the aims of the Company. A 1784 letter sent by Green to [[Christopher Champlin]] in the USA, discussed plans for a trading voyage to Bengal and elsewhere. Green says {{quote|My letters will doubtless pass by way of London, unless I have an opportunity of addressing you directly from India. The jealousy of the English East India Company has been excited .... If you chuse to hazard writing me in India, you must write covertly to me. Direct your letters under cover to Suetonius Heatly, Esqr. Calcutta, Bengal and send them to be forwarded to me, to the care of Mr. Wilkinson, London; never failing to address me as your Supercargo, because if the letters are intercepted no mischief can ensue. The late Revolution has embittered the minds and spirits of many, and made them attentive to all our motions.<ref>Ford (1915), p. 237.</ref>}}

==Coal mining==
Kautilya recorded mining activities in India around 400 [[BCE]], in his ''[[Arthashastra]]'' but these operations related to precious stones and metals rather than coal.<ref name="Dutt et al 2004">Dutt ''et al'' (2004)</ref> The first documented discovery of coal was in 1774, when Heatly and Sumner (another colonial administrator) saw it being used to create fires while they were travelling on the [[Damodar River]].<ref name="Dutt et al 2004"/> J. Homfray, the manager of a colliery at Narayankuri and the first person to write a detailed account of the [[Raniganj Coalfield]],<ref name=Hunter1876p109>Hunter (1876), p. 109.</ref> says that the area was at that time under the rule of the Rajah of Ramghur and that {{quote| ... it is an historical fact, that Mr Heatly, at that time being politically employed by Government, captured the Rajah, and probably obtained a knowledge of the existence of coal through some attendant circumstances ...<ref name=Homfray1842p734>Homfray (1842), p. 734.</ref>}} On 11 August 1774 they put forward a proposal for commercial extraction in a part of what now forms the Raniganj Coalfield.<ref name=Thacker1940p479/><ref name=Minervis2005p61>Minenvis (2005), p. 61.</ref>

[[File:Rennel's Map.jpg|thumb|[[James Rennell|James Rennell's]] map of ca. 1765, showing many of the placenames referred to.]]

Heatly and Sumner proposed to establish six mines in an area which they defined as {{quote|within the space included by the river Adji to the north, the border of Burdwan to the east, the river Damooda to the south, and a circular line to the west, described from the town of Aytura in Pachete, at the distance of ten miles from Aytura, between the one river and the other.<ref name=Heatly1842p814>Heatly (1842), p. 814.</ref>{{efn|These are old transliterations. The Damooda is the Damodar River, the Adji is probably the [[Ajay River]], and Aytura is probably the place today known as [[Ethora]]. The men referred also to ''Bheerbhoom'', which may be today's [[Birbhum district]].}}}}

They wrote to [[Warren Hastings]], the Governor-General, requesting {{quote|That an exclusive right be granted to us for eighteen years of working coal mines and selling coal in Bengal and its dependencies, so long as we can engage to furnish as much pit-coal as ever the Government may bespeak of us for their consumption at the market price of the time, when wanted.<ref name=Heatly1842p814/>}}

The proposal discussed the possibility of exports<ref name=Heatly1842p815>Heatly (1842), p. 815.</ref> and included the stipulation that they would retain the rights to any other minerals and metals discovered in the area on payment of a 20% royalty to the Company, a figure which also applied to the coal. They made an exception for any iron that might be found, suggesting that the Company should determine the nature of any rights if and when it occurred.<ref name=Hunter1876pp122-123/><ref name=Heatly1842p814/> It was also suggested that European workers would be employed.<ref name=Heatly1842p815/> An agreement was reached by October 1774, by which time a third person, called Redfearne (sometimes, ''Redferne''), had joined in business with Heatly and Sumner.<ref>Heatly (1842), p. 818.</ref>

Homfray believes that the first of the mines to be worked was at the village of Hattoreah Aytoorah, being a place where the coal seam came to the surface.<ref name=Homfray1842p734/>{{efn|Other mines among the six opened were at "Chinacoory" (Chinakuri) and Damoully.<ref>Homfray (1842), p. 739.</ref> Hunter speculates that the other three workings were further westwards.<ref name=Hunter1876pp122-123/>}} By September 1775 around 2500 [[maunds]] (91.5 [[Long ton|imperial tons]]) of coal had been sent by river to [[Calcutta]] for testing.<ref name=Thacker1940p479/><ref>Heatly (1842), p. 819.</ref> These tests were delayed, at least in part because the partners in the business were also engaged in their duties on behalf of the East India Company.<ref>Heatly (1842), pp. 819–820.</ref> Some prompting in 1777 caused the tests finally to be undertaken in January 1778.<ref>Heatly (1842), p. 821.</ref> The results showed that the coal was of too poor a quality for use by the Company, producing 50% less heat than British coal.<ref name=Thacker1940p479/><ref name=Minervis2005p61/>{{efn|Coal was sent to India from Britain as [[Sailing ballast|ballast]] in ships.<ref>Heatly (1842), p. 824.</ref>}}{{efn|[[William Wilson Hunter]], in summarising the accounts of others writing before him, states that "Coal was known to exist in the District as early as 1774, and was actually worked in 1777."<ref name=Hunter1876p109/> However, in his table listing various workings in the coalfield he shows an entry for a source worked at "Damulia" (Damoully), using the quarry method, with the opening date stated as "1774?"}}

Sumner had returned to England after the tests, and European miners brought in by Heatly were ravaged by disease.<ref name=Heatlyp822>Heatly (1842), p. 822.</ref> Furthermore, Heatly was posted far away to Purnia, making personal supervision impossible, and from 1781 the East India Company began to make it more difficult for its employees to conduct private ventures of this nature.<ref name="Heatly 1842, p. 823"/> These were all additional issues, on top of the loss of the East India Company as a potentially large purchaser, and the venture petered out. It was not until around 1814–1815 that the first [[coal pit]] was sunk for the purpose of extraction in India.<ref name="Minervis2005p61"/><ref name=Gee1940p313>Gee (1940), p. 313.</ref>

==Death==
Heatly died in Bengal in 1793.<ref name=Manners1920pp180-181/> Although unmarried, a nephew has suggested that Heatly "formed a connection with a native of the Country, a thing of frequent occurrence at that time in India, by whom he had several children, whom he educated well and provided for – a daughter of his Mary was sent to England for her education." [[Christie's]], the auctioneers, note that a 1786 portrait of an Indian woman possibly called "Ann" and painted by [[Charles Smith (1749-1824)|Charles Smith]] in [[Lucknow]], might be that ''bibi'' (mistress), although ''bibis'' did not usually take English names. They add that an Ann Heatly married Joseph Welsh in Calcutta in 1792.<ref name=Christies2006/> Heatly himself was painted, together with his sister Temperance, in Calcutta by [[Arthur William Devis]].<ref>Christie's ''Visions of India''.</ref>{{efn|The painting by Devis was attributed to [[Johann Zoffany]] until around 1979.<ref name=Manners1920pp180-181/><ref>Artfact</ref>}}

A subsequent obituary of his brother, Patrick, recorded that Heatly had been "well known ... for talent and amiability".<ref>Gentleman's Magazine (1834), p. 543.</ref>

In 1884 and 1885, long after his death, notices appeared in ''[[The London Gazette]]'' advising that he was among a group of people who had not claimed shares in the [[British Fisheries Society]] and giving his position as Collector of Purnia.<ref>London Gazette (1884), pp. 251–252</ref><ref>London Gazette (1885), pp. 3431–3432</ref>

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
'''Citations'''
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
'''Bibliography'''
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/arthur-william-devis-1762-1822-1-c-hs7qhkth54 |title=Christie's: Arts of India: Lot 16
|publisher=Artfact |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite book |last=Barraclough |first=L. J. |chapter=Early Development of Coal Mining |title=Progress of the Mineral Industry of India, 1906–1955 |editor=((Mining, Geological, and Metallurgical Institute of India)) |pages=141–146 |year=1956 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=caJOAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.christies.com/images/email/june08_kingstreet_voa_landing2.html?CID=5417012441d |title=Visions of India |publisher=Christie's |location=London |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4750640 |title=Sale 7304 Lot 14 |date=13 July 2006 |publisher=Christie's |location=London |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite journal |first1=Mihir |last1=Deb |first2=Garima |last2=Tiwari |first3=Kuntala |last3=Lahiri-Dutt |title=Artisanal and small-scale mining in India: Selected studies and an overview of the issues |journal=International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment |volume=10 |issue=10 |year=2004}}
*{{cite book |title=Copies of the several testimonials transmitted from Bengal by the governor general and council, relative to Warren Hastings, esq., late governor general of Bengal |year=1789 |author=East India Company |location=London |publisher=Printed for John Stockdale |url=https://archive.org/details/copiesofseveralt00eastiala |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite journal |editor-first=Worthington Chauncey |editor-last=Ford |journal=Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society |title=Commerce of Rhode Island 1726–1800: Vol. II, 1775–1800 |series=7th |volume=10 |page=237 |year=1915 |location=Boston |publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4pIAAAAYAAJ|access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite journal |first=E. R. |last=Gee |title=History of Coal-Mining in India |volume=6 |issue=3 |date=10 August 1940 |journal=Indian National Science Academy |url=http://www.dli.gov.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b80_313.pdf |access-date=2011-10-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425052026/http://www.dli.gov.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b80_313.pdf |archive-date=25 April 2012 }}
*{{cite journal |journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal |volume=11, Part 2 |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bengal |year=1842 |title=Contributions towards a History of the development of the Mineral Resources of India |first=S. G. Tollemache |last=Heatly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wr9JAAAAcAAJ |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite journal |journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal |volume=11, Part 2 |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bengal |year=1842 |title=A Description of the Coal Field of the Damoodah Valley |first=J. |last=Homfray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wr9JAAAAcAAJ |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite book |title=The Life of Ezra Stiles |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofezrastiles00ho |first=Abiel |last=Holmes |publisher=Thomas & Andrews |year=1798 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeofezrastiles00ho/page/336 336] |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite book |last=Humphreys |first=H. D. G. |chapter=The Early History of Coal Mining in Bengal |title=Progress of the Mineral Industry of India, 1906–1955 |editor=((Mining, Geological, and Metallurgical Institute of India)) |pages=147–159 |year=1956 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=caJOAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{cite book |title=A Statistical Account of Bengal |volume=4 |first=William Wilson |last=Hunter |author-link=William Wilson Hunter |publisher=Trubner & Co. |location=London |year=1876 |url=https://archive.org/details/astatisticalacc07kiscgoog |access-date=2011-10-26}}
*{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/johnzoffanyrahis00zoffuoft |title=John Zoffany, R.A. his life and works : 1735–1810 |first1=Victoria |last1=Manners |first2=G. C. |last2=Williamson |publisher=John Lane, The Bodley Head |location=London |year=1920 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/johnzoffanyrahis00zoffuoft/page/180 180]–181 |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite journal |title=The Present Status of the Coal Industry |first1=D. D. |last1=Thacker |first2=Rao |last2=Bahadur |volume=6 |issue=3 |date=22 August 1940 |journal=Indian National Science Academy |url=http://www.dli.gov.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b80_479.pdf |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{London Gazette |issue=25308 |date=15 January 1884 |pages=250–252 }}
*{{London Gazette |issue=25493 |date=24 July 1885 |pages=3431–3432 }}
*{{cite journal |title=Some Important Facts about the History of Coal Mining in India |journal=Minenvis |issn=0972-4648 |issue=46 |date=September 2005 |publisher=Centre of Mining Environment, Indian School of Mines |location=Dhanbad |url=http://ismenvis.nic.in/Newsletter46.pdf |access-date=2011-10-25}}
*{{cite journal |journal=The Gentleman's Magazine |volume=157 |publisher=F. Jefferies |date=November 1834 |title=Patrick Heatly, Esq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2OYNXvykVcC |access-date=2011-10-25}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Humphreys |first=H. D. G. |chapter=The Early History of Coal Mining in Bengal |title=Progress of the Mineral Industry of India, 1906–1955 |editor=((Mining, Geological, and Metallurgical Institute of India)) |pages=141–159 |year=1956 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=caJOAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2011-10-25}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heatly, Suetonius Grant}}
[[Category:1751 births]]
[[Category:1793 deaths]]
[[Category:People from colonial Rhode Island]]
[[Category:British East India Company people]]
[[Category:Politicians from Newport, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Indian businesspeople in the coal industry]]
[[Category:People from Newport County, Rhode Island]]

Suetonius Grant Heatly - Revision history

Startupoffices at 19:29, 26 December 2025