Sir John Hadley D'Oyly, 6th Baronet (January 1754, Ipswich – 5 January 1818, Kolkata) was a politician in Great Britain. He primarily inherited debt when his father died when he was ten, but through family connections had a successful career with the East India Company. Returning to Ipswich a wealthy man, he settled his fathers debts and aligned himself with the Ipswich Yellow Party. He served as the MP for the town for several years in the 1790s. He returned to India in 1803 where he lived until his death in 1818.

Early life

His father,

Hadley D'Oyly Hadley may refer to: Places Canada * Hadley Bay, on the north of Victoria Island, Nunavut England * Hadley, London, a former civil parish within Barnet Urban District from 1894 to 1965 * Hadley, Shropshire, part of the new town of Telford, ...

, was rector of Wotton and Felixstowe. His mother was Henrietta Maynard Osborne, daughter of Reverend Henry Osborne, the Vicar of Thaxted, Essex. His father died when John was ten years old, only leaving debt as a legacy. His mother educated him herself until through the influence of Charles Bunbury, John entered the service of the East India Company (EIC) in 1769 as a "writer", i.e. a junior clerical worker.

Career with the East India Company

However John progressed, becoming a Persian translator in 1775 for the EIC Army, a mercantile factor in 1776, Sheriff of Kolkata for 1779. In this year he married Diana Rochfort, widow of William Cotes of Calcutta and was appointed Resident for Murshidabad, whilst also becoming first a junior merchant (1780) and then a senior merchant (1782) with the EIC. However in 1785 his wife became ill and he took his family back to England with him.

Residency at Murshidabad

D'Oyly took over the residency at Murshidabad following the resignation of

William Byam Martin William Byam Martin (1746–1806) was an English merchant and official of the East India Company. Early life William was the son of Samuel Martin (1694–1776), a slave owner in Antigua. Samuel Martin (Secretary to the Treasury) (1714–1788), ...

in January 1780. He arrived that February with instructions from Warren Hastings, the Governor General of Bengal to encourage Mubarak Ali Khan, the

Nawab of Bengal The Nawab of Bengal ( bn, বাংলার নবাব) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar, ...

to adopt "effectual measures" to curb his spending which was greater than his income.

Career in England

He returned to England in 1785 as a nabob with a fortune of over £100,000. He used some of this to settle his father's debts. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipswich from 1790 to 1796., Whig

Return to India

His wife died on 6 September 1803, and John returned to India filling the post of collector of customs, at Kolkata. In 1807 he was appointed Postmaster General and salt agent for Bengal. He died in 1818 and was buried in the South Park Street Cemetery in Calcutta (today Kolkata), India.''The South Park Street Cemetery, Calcutta'', published by the Association for the Preservation of Historical Cemeteries in India, 5th ed., 2009

Family

He married Diana Rochfort, daughter of William Rochfort (grandson of

Robert Rochfort Robert Rochfort (9 December 1652 – 10 October 1727) was a leading Irish lawyer, politician and judge of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He held office as Attorney General for Ireland, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, a ...

and Henry Hamilton-Moore, 3rd Earl of Drogheda) and Henrietta Ramsay, on 16 March 1779 in Calcutta, India. *Harriet Rochfort D'Oyly (1777-1833) *

Sir Charles D'Oyly, 7th Baronet Sir Charles D'Oyly, 7th Baronet (1781–1845), was a British public official and painter from Dacca (now Dhaka). He was a member of the Bengal Civil Service based in Calcutta, Dacca and Patna from 1797 to 1838. Although he held senior positions wi ...

(18 Sep 1781-21 Sep 1845) *Maynard Eliza D'Oyly (1785-21 Jun 1866). She married firstly Walter Farquhar (d. 1809), son of Sir Walter Farquhar, 1st Baronet. After his death she married Rev. Thomas Snow. They had three sons, and three daughters. *

Sir John Hadley D'Oyly, 8th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

(29 Sep 1794-21 Mar 1869)

Arms

References

*
New monthly magazine, Volume 10. 1818. p186-187
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doyly, John, 6th Baronet 1754 births 1818 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Ipswich British MPs 1790–1796 Sheriffs of Kolkata Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies