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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2013}}
'''William Hamilton''' (died 4 December 1717) was a Scottish surgeon, associated with [[British East India Company]] (EIC), who travelled to [[India]] in the first half of the eighteenth century. He was a part of the delegation that went from [[Calcutta]], the base of the company, to meet [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Farrukhsiyar]] in his court in [[Delhi]] in 1715.

==Early life==
William Hamilton was born in [[Lanarkshire]] in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and possibly studied at Glasgow University. He travelled with the East India Company on the ''Sherborne'' in 1709, but deserted it at [[Cuddalore]]. After finding his way to Madras, he was summoned back to the ship before again absconding to Calcutta.<ref name=BMJ1907>{{Cite journal|date=25 May 1907|title=British Medicine in India|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|volume=1|issue=2421|pages=1245–1253|issn=0007-1447|pmc=2357439}}</ref>

==Treatment of Farrukhsiyar==
In Delhi, Hamilton first had to treat Taqarab Khan (the ''khansama'', or lord steward). In August 1715, the surgeon was called to treat a swelling in the [[groin]] of the [[Farrukhsiyar|Emperor Farrukhsiyar]], which he treated successfully.<ref name=IMS1947>{{Cite journal|date=July 1947|title=The Passing of the I.M.S|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a371/55f550e3be669dead86b82617e89c906f0f5.pdf|journal=The Indian Medical Gazette|pages=411|access-date=18 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302123711/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a371/55f550e3be669dead86b82617e89c906f0f5.pdf|archive-date=2019-03-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> In October of the same year, the emperor again suffered from violent pain and feared it would be a [[Fistula#K: Diseases of the digestive system|fistula]]. Hamilton’s treatment was again successful. As a result, in December 1715 Farrukhsiyar finally arranged his marriage to Indira Kanwar, the daughter of Raja Ajit Singh of [[Jodhpur]], which had been delayed by his recurrent illness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.anandabazar.com/rabibashoriyo/east-india-company-got-permission-of-doing-business-in-india-by-curing-polypus-of-farrukhsiyar/cid/1272026|title=East India Company got permission of doing business in India by curing polypus of Farrukhsiyar|website=Anandabazar Patrika|access-date=21 March 2021}}</ref>

==Royal gift to Hamilton==
Hamilton was generously rewarded on the occasion of the wedding. He received "an elephant, a horse, five thousand [[rupees]] in money, two diamond rings, a jewelled [[aigrette]], a set of gold buttons, and models of all his instruments in gold."{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

==The ''Farman''==
More important than these personal rewards to Hamilton was what the [[British East India Company]] achieved. The Company's delegation was placed in high regard in the royal court of Farrukhsiyar. In April 1717, the emperor’s ''farman'' (grant) was issued, meeting all the requests that the Company had made in its petitions.<ref>Kochhar, Rajesh. [http://www.iisc.ernet.in/academy/jbiosci/september1999/article2.htm ''The truth behind the legend: European doctors in pre-colonial India''.]</ref> Permission was granted to purchase 38 villages surrounding the three already held by the company (''[[Sutanuti]]'', ''[[Gobindapur, Kolkata|Gobindapur]]'' and ''[[Kalikata]]'', the predecessor of modern [[Calcutta]]). The Company was also granted trading privileges in [[Bengal]] and further fortification of Calcutta.<ref>[http://cbi-theater-2.home.comcast.net/redcross/red-cross-india.html#CALCUTTA A Guidebook to Calcutta Agra Delhi Karachi and Bombay]. The American Red Cross of the China-Burma-India Command.</ref> This grant was instrumental in the setting up of business and the colonisation of Bengal, later to be followed by the rest of [[India]], by the East India Company.

==Farrukhsiyar's wish to retain Hamilton==
After the grant, Farrukhsiyar expressed his wish to retain Hamilton in Delhi as his personal physician, but Hamilton was unwilling to stay. Hamilton promised to the emperor that after a visit to Europe he would return and join him as his personal physician.

==Death==
[[File:William_Hamilton_gravestone.jpg|thumb|Grave inscription]]
Hamilton died in [[Calcutta]] on [4 December] 1717. He was buried at the churchyard of St. John's Church, Calcutta.<ref>Chatterton, Eyre. 1924.[http://anglicanhistory.org/india/chatterton1924/04.html A History of the Church of England in India: Since the Early Days of the East India Company]. Project Canterbury</ref> The inscription tells the story of his curing a "Malignant Distemper" of Farrukhsiyar.
{{Quotation |Under this Stone lyes interred 
the Body of 
"William Hamilton, Surgeon, 
Who departed this life 4 December 1717. 
His memory ought to be dear to his 
Nation for the credit he gain'd the English 
in curing Ferrukseer, the present 
King of Indostan, of a 
Malignant Distemper, by which he 
made his own Name famous at the 
Court of that Great Monarch; 
and without doubt will perpetuate 
his memory, as well in Great Britain 
as all other Nations of Europe."|Inscription stone on the tomb of William Hamilton|1717}}

==See also==
*[[Gabriel Boughton]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.115204/page/n1 ''The History Of Bengal''], Charles Stewart, Basilisks Press (1813)
*[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24717/page/n241 “Surgeons in India – Past and Present”], Dodwell and Miles ''Calcutta Review'' (1854), Vol.XXIII, pp. 241–243

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, William}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:1717 deaths]]
[[Category:British surgeons]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]
[[Category:British East India Company people]]
[[Category:Mughal Empire people]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Kolkata]]

William Hamilton (surgeon) - Revision history

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