Stephen Law (1699 – 25 December 1787) was the

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

from 7 April 1739 to 15 November 1742. Law was born into a merchant family and became an

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 ...

writer in Bombay in 1715, graduating in 1720 to become a factor. In 1739, he was appointed Governor. He was recalled in 1742 following accusations of excessive expenditure in protecting the settlement from 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 M ...

. He retired to Broxbourne Manor,

Broxbourne Broxbourne is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Hoddesdon, in the Broxbourne district, in Hertfordshire, England, north of London, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 It is ...

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 ...

and became a Director of the Company for 1746–49, 1751–54, and 1756. After his wife died in January 1785, he moved to

Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown and ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Death

He died in 1787 at Bedgbury House, Kent, the home of his son-in-law. His daughter Stephana had married

John Cartier John Cartier (23 May 1733 – 25 January 1802) was a British colonial governor in India. He served as Governor of Bengal from 1769 to 1772. Early career Cartier first arrived in India as a writer in the service of the British East India Comp ...

, the ex-Governor of Bengal. His son,

John Law John Law may refer to: Arts and entertainment *John Law (artist) (born 1958), American artist *John Law (comics), comic-book character created by Will Eisner *John Law (film director), Hong Kong film director * John Law (musician) (born 1961), B ...

, became the

Archdeacon of Rochester The Archdeacon of Rochester is a senior office-holder in the Diocese of Rochester (a division of the Church of England Province of Canterbury.) Like other archdeacons, they are administrators in the diocese at large (having oversight of parishes in ...

References

* * * * 1699 births 1787 deaths Governors of Bombay Directors of the British East India Company {{UK-politician-stub