The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

[ Previous ][ Next ]

Sir William Hedges (1632 - 1701)

English merchant to and administrator, operating in Turkey and India. He was appointed the first governor of the East India Company in Bengal, arriving there in July 1682. In 1677 he was residing in Basinghall Street, near Guildhall. Dictionary of National Biography entry: https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/12860 Other biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hedges_(colonial_administrator) Relevant locations: Visited Sagar Island, India
 References in Documents:
MS Book of Benefactors (MacGregor, ed.)

The famous Sir William Hedges, citizen and merchant of London, showed great discernment in procuring, on his travels in India, an idol of (the goddess) Gonga from a pagoda on the Island of Sagur at the mouth of the Ganges, a temple second in importance only to that of Benares or Juggernaut. He sent it at his own expense to this Museum, as if to a fitting shrine, and in this way honoured the University. (There may be more to come).

MS The Book of the Junior Proctor (MacGregor, ed.) 722A Idolum Indicum Gonga appellatus ex Insula Seagur in ostio Gangis a Cl. viro Dño Gul. Hedges Milite huc delatum. Indian idol known as Gonga, brought from the island of Sagur at the mouth of the river Ganges, by the celebrated Sir William Hedges