Sir Thomas Rolt (c.1631–1710) was a British official of 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 South ...

, President of Surat and Governor of Bombay from 1677 to 1681. His father was Edward Rolt of Pertenhall in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

; his mother was Edward Rolt's second wife Mary, a daughter of

Sir Oliver Cromwell Sir Oliver Cromwell ( – 28 August 1655) was an English landowner, lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1625. He was the uncle of Oliver Cromwell, the Member of Parliament, general, and Lord Pr ...

. Rolt began his career at the Surat factory of the Company, and was a writer from 1658. He moved to Persia where he was the local chief, agent on the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

from 1671 to 1677. During his period as President of Surat, the Company ordered him to cut back expenditure. Rolt pursued a policy that aimed to be even-handed with respect to the

Marathas The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

and the Siddis of Gujarat, which brought him criticism from Richard Keigwin. In 1682 Rolt returned to England with a fortune. He bought the manor of

Sacombe Sacombe is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, of Hertfordshire, England. At the 2001 census it had a population of 165. Sacombe is located about 4 miles N N W of Ware; other nearby settlements include Dane End and Sa ...

in Hertfordshire in 1688, from Sir John Gore. In the vestry of Sacombe Church, there is a memorial to Rolt, who died in 1710, and to his wife, who died in 1716.

Family

Rolt married Mary, daughter of

Thomas Coxe Thomas Coxe (1615–1685) was an English physician. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in 1635 and an MA in 1638. He was among the initial fellows of the Royal Society, but ran into money difficulties in old age. L ...

. Edward Rolt the Member of Parliament was their son. Their daughter Constantia married John Kyrle Ernle. The marriage also made Rolt stepfather of

Samuel Rolt Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bi ...

, another Member of Parliament, and the son of Thomas Rolt of Milton Ernest.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolt, Thomas British East India Company civil servants 17th-century English people 1710 deaths 17th-century births 18th-century English people Governors of Bombay