Andrew Cogan also known as Andrew Coggan (born circa 1600,
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
; died circa 1660) was the first agent of the English
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
to rule
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
(a. k. a. Chennai). He was the chief of the
Masulipatnam
Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar, is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the mandal headquarte ...
factory when Madras was purchased from
Peda Venkata Raya
Venkata III (a.k.a. Pedda Venkata Raya) was the grandson of Aliya Rama Raya. Venkata III belonged to the Telugu Family and became the King of Vijayanagara Empire from 1632–1642.
His brothers in law were Damarla Venkatappa Nayaka and Damarla ...
, the last king of the
Aravidu dynasty
The Aravidu Dynasty was the fourth and last Hindu dynasty of Vijayanagara Empire in South India. Its founder was Tirumala Deva Raya, whose brother Rama Raya had been the masterful regent of the last ruler of the previous dynasty. Rama Raya's deat ...
of the
Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...
, the capital of which was at
Chandragiri
Chandragiri is a suburb and neighbourhood of Tirupati and located in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a part of Tirupati urban agglomeration and a major growing residential area in Tirupati It is the mandal headqua ...
. As such Cogan is a significant figure in the history of the
English colonial empire
The English overseas possessions, also known as the English colonial empire, comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England during the centuries before the Ac ...
.
Purchase of Madras
In 1637,
Francis Day
Francis Talbot Day (2 March 1829 – 10 July 1889) was an army surgeon and naturalist in the Madras Presidency who later became the Inspector-General of Fisheries in India and Burma. A pioneer ichthyologist, he described more than three hund ...
, a member of the Masulipatnam Council and Chief of the Armagon Factory, made a voyage of exploration down the
Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...
as far as
Pondicherry
Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...
. At that time, the Coromandel Coast was ruled by the Raja of Chandragiri through a local chief or Nayak, Damarla Venkatapathy Nayak, who ruled the coast from Pulicat up to
San Thome
San Thome Church, officially known as St Thomas Cathedral Basilica and National Shrine of Saint Thomas, is a minor basilica of the Catholic Church in India, at the Santhome neighbourhood of Madras (Chennai), in Tamil Nadu. The present structure ...
. He had his seat at
Wandiwash
Vandavasi, earlier called Wandiwash is a major town and a municipality in the Tiruvannamalai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town is well known in the Carnatic history for the Battle of Wandiwash. Vandavasi town is also the larges ...
and his brother, Ayyappa Nayak resided at
Poonamallee
Poonamallee is suburb of Chennai, India under the Chennai Metropolitan Area. It was historically called ''Pushpagirimangalam'', later renamed in Tamil as ''Poovirundhavalli'' (), and now colloquially called as ''Poondhamalli''. It is a town in ...
.
It is widely presumed that Ayyappa Nayak was the one who made overtures to the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
to choose the area comprising the modern-day
George Town for settlement. The offer looked good, and Day consulted Cogan, his superior, who investigated the proposed site and examined trading possibilities there. The results were favourable and Day secured a grant offering the
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
of Madraspatnam to the English for a period of two years. The
grant
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
*Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
*Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
*Grant, Inyo County, C ...
was dated August 1639, and after obtaining the approval of the Factory at Masulipatnam and the Presidency of Bantam (in Java), the settlement of Madraspatnam was begun.
Construction of Fort St. George
Day and Cogan were jointly responsible for the construction of
Fort St. George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
. The building of the Factory House was taken up on 1 March 1640. A portion of the structure was presumably completed by St. George's Day (23 April) of that year and consequently the name "Fort St. George" was given to the fort.
The
bastion
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...
s were the first fortifications constructed; erection of the curtain walls connecting them proceeded more slowly, as it constructed in stages as funds permitted. The whole Fort took fourteen years to construct and was finished only in 1653.
Cogan's agency
Soon after the construction of Fort St. George had begun, Day was charged with the offence of trading privately, outside of his parent company, and he left for England in 1641. During his absence, Cogan was made the Agent of Madras and he remained in the post for more than three years. During his time in power he strengthened the fortifications and strove to make the town prosperous. But, he was charged with extravagant
expenditure
An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in general, to another person or group as payment for an item, service, or other category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition is a ...
on the fortifications; as a consequence of which he resigned his post and sailed to England in disgust. Day assumed the Agency of Madras and served as agent for a short time thereafter.
Personal life
After returning to England, Cogan was an active supporter of the
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
cause during the
English civil war
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
(1642–1651). Following the Royalists' defeat (1653), he went into exile and his estates were confiscated. However, in 1657, following the Restoration Cogan was made a
knight of Ireland, as Sir Andrew Cogan, Baronet of Greenwich. He died in or about 1660.
See also
*
List of colonial governors and presidents of Madras Presidency
This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
English Agents
In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...
Footnotes
References
* Henry Davidson Love, 1995 (first pub. 1913) ''Indian Records Series: Vestiges of Old Madras 1640-1800''. New Delhi, Mittal Publications; pp. 14, 23, 41, 58, 141.
Origin of Chennai* International Genealogical Index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cogan, Andrew
Governors of Madras
British East India Company civil servants
17th-century English businesspeople
Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland