Sir John Gayer (died 1711) was the

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 ...

's General from May 1694 to November 1704. The General was in charge of all the Company's affairs in India. He was also the governor of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

for the same period. Gayer's tenure was dominated by conflict with the English Company Trading to the East Indies (New Company), set up in 1698. This led to his imprisonment in Surat for many years.

Life

He was the son of Humfrey Gayer, merchant, of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, Devon, and nephew of Sir John Gayer, Lord Mayor of London. The Gayer family originally came from Liskeard. At an early age, he entered the service of the

, and rose to be a sea captain. On being appointed by the owners commander of the ship Society, he was admitted into the freedom of the company on 7 April 1682. On 3 June 1692 he was chosen governor of the port and island of Bombay. In 1693, when Sir John Goldsborough was appointed General by the Company, Gayer was to succeed him in case of death. He went out in December 1693 as governor of Bombay and General, reaching the Indian coast at History of Kozhikode, Calicut on 5 March 1694, and there hearing of the death of Goldsborough. In 1699 the forerunners of the New Company were followed by Sir Nicholas Waite (a dismissed agent of the old company) as president at Surat and king's consul. Waite intrigued against the Old Company, and charged his rivals with piracy. The servants of the Old (or London) Company refused to recognise the new men or the authority of Sir William Norris, 1st Baronet, Sir William Norris, who came out as William III of England, William III's ambassador to Aurangzeb. The ambassador arrived on 10 December 1700, convoyed by four king's ships. A contest in bribery began between the agents of the two companies. Gayer left his stronghold at Bombay and came to Swally (Suvali), the roadstead of Surat, to arrange the disputes in which the governor of Surat was involved. He was arrested there, in consequence apparently of Waite's charges. Along with his wife and some of his council, Gayer was removed to Surat by a body of native troops, and confined to the factory. His confinement, with some temporary suspension, endured for years. He was still a prisoner at the beginning of 1709, when the Old and New companies had been amalgamated. In letters dated from Surat, 31 March and 25 April 1706, Gayer and his council give a picture of the anarchy in Gujarat and the country between Surat and Ahmedabad. In the end the Old Company, in a letter to Gayer, dated 20 April 1708, stated that Waite had been removed; and, as Gayer's captivity disqualified him from succeeding, William Aislabie (governor), William Aislabie, deputy-governor at Bombay, had been appointed general in his place. They also hinted that Gayer might have gained his liberty had he not stood so much on the details of the release. He was released by 5 October 1710. On that day he made his will in Bombay Castle, and died there, probably in the following year. He was twice married but had no children.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gayer, John Governors of Bombay Year of birth missing 1711 deaths