Robert Cowan (governor)


Robert Cowan was an Irish colonial administrator and the East India Company's Governor of Bombay from 1729 to 1734. He was a collateral ancestor of the Marquesses of Londonderry through the marriage of his sister, Mary Cowan, to Alexander Stewart, father of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry.
Cowan was descended from Ulster Scots Presbyterian stock, and his father, John Cowan, was an Alderman of the city of Derry. He entered the service of the East India Company some time before 1720 and retired in 1735, two years before his death. In 1721, he was involved in an unsuccessful campaign against Maratha Koli Admiral Kanhoji Angre. His personal fortune, amassed as governor, became part of the basis of the wealth of the Stewart family for generations.

Chronology

1710-1719 Lisbon .
1710-1717 Trade in madeira wine
1717-1718 RC leaves Lisbon for London
1719 feb 17 petition of Robert Cowan to East India Company to travel East. Robert Cowan allowed to travel as free merchant under East India Company rules
1718-1721 London
1721-22 Goa
1721 feb 8 – 1722 jan 6. 287 letters written by RC from Goa.
1721 February Robert Cowan arrives in Goa as EIC representative.
1721 Robert Cowan writes treatise of 1721 with Portuguese
RC fluent Portuguese speaker letters written in French. He knew Gujarati language?
His counterpart was Francis Joseph de Sampayo é Castro, Viceroy of Portuguese India.
1722 April- August Surat
1722 RC appointed by EIC to overlook company accounts in Surat.
1722 April RC order set of armorial plates . It took three years to complete the order.
1722 August – 1724 Bombay
1724-1727 Mocha .
1724 January RC hired by EIC to head factory in Mocha.. He was chief representative of EIC in Mocha. Cowan deals with coffee trade.
Robert Cowan proposes the closing of the Mocha office of East India Company.
1725 William Cowan joins EIC.
RC’s ships travelled to Malacca, Judda and Bombay, Maldives, China Bussorah from Mocha
1727 withdrawal of Mocha Factory.
1728- 1735 Bombay
1728 RC appointed Governor of Bombay.
1729 July new firman negotiated with Mocha.
1732-1735 travels for RC : Bengal ; Bengal Bengal Bengal Bengal and Mangalore Bombay Bussorah Bussorah Bussorah Calcutta China China/Canton China/Canton China/Canton Malabar Malacca Malacca Malacca Malacca Malacca Mocha and Malabar Mocha and Malabar Mocha Mocha and Bussorah Surat Surat Surat
1734 October instructs John Gould Jr to find a house at St. James’ in London
1735 4th January will of RC. Will of Robert Cowan, Bombay, 4 Jan. 1735,.. Chief beneficiary his brother William Cowan. In the case of the latter’s demise, then Mary Cowan. The will provides that an estate should be purchased for future generations .