Suetonius Grant Heatly
Encyclopedia
Suetonius Grant Heatly (1751–1793) was judge employed by the British East India Company
and, with John Sumner, established what is considered to be the first coal mine in India.
in 1751. He was the oldest son of a merchant, Andrew Heatly, and his wife, Mary (née Grant), both of whom were of Scots descent. His younger siblings included a brother, Patrick, and a sister, Temperance. Another sister, Mary, was the mother of the historian, cartographer
and administrator of Rajasthan
, James Tod
.
The Heatly family was loyal to the British crown, and those of the family living in America at the time of the revolution
against British control chose to leave. Temperance subsequently returned after being married.
, still smarting from his military defeats in America, Heatly became a favourite. He was Collector
of Chotanagpur
and Palamu
by 1774 and by 1783 he held a similar position for Purnia
. He held that position still in 1788.
He became a magistrate
for the province of Dana and at the time of his death was the chief judge of appeals for Decca
.
Although Heatly worked for the Company, one of his contemporaries – William Green – suggested that he could be used as a conduit for letters which might subvert the aims of the Company. A 1784 letter sent by Green to Christopher Champlin in the USA, discussed plans for a trading voyage to Bengal and elsewhere. Green says
but these operations related to precious stones and metals rather than coal. The first documented discovery of coal was in 1774, when Heatly and Sumner (another colonial administrator) saw it being used to create fires while they were travelling on the Damodar River
. J. Homfray, the manager of a colliery at Narayankuri and the first person to write a detailed account of the Raniganj Coalfield
, says that the area was at that time under the rule of the Rajah of Ramghur and that On 11 August 1774 they put forward a proposal for commercial extraction in a part of what now forms the Raniganj Coalfield.
Heatly and Sumner proposed to establish six mines in an area which they defined as
They wrote to Warren Hastings
, the Governor-General, requesting
The proposal discussed the possibility of exports and included the stipulation that they would retain the rights to any other minerals and metals discovered in the area on payment of a 20% royalty to the Company, a figure which also applied to the coal. They made an exception for any iron that might be found, suggesting that the Company should determine the nature of any rights if and when it occurred. It was also suggested that European workers would be employed. An agreement was reached by October 1774, by which time a third person, called Redfearne (sometimes, Redferne), had joined in business with Heatly and Sumner.
Homfray believes that the first of the mines to be worked was at the village of Hattoreah Aytoorah, being a place where the coal seam came to the surface. By September 1775 around 2500 maunds (91.5 imperial tons
) of coal had been sent by river to Calcutta for testing. These tests were delayed, at least in part because the partners in the business were also engaged in their duties on behalf of the East India Company. Some prompting in 1777 caused the tests finally to be undertaken in January 1778. The results showed that the coal was of too poor a quality for use by the Company, producing 50% less heat than British coal.
Sumner had returned to England after the tests, and European miners brought in by Heatly were ravaged by disease. Furthermore, Heatly was posted far away to Purnia, making personal supervision impossible, and from 1781 the East India Company began to make it more difficult for its employees to conduct private ventures of this nature. These were all additional issues, on top of the loss of the East India Company as a potentially large purchaser, and the venture petered out. It was not until around 1814–1815 that the first coal pit was sunk for the purpose of extraction in India.
, the auctioneers, note that a 1786 portrait of an Indian woman possibly called "Ann" and painted by Charles Smith (1749-1824) in Lucknow
, might be that bibi (mistress), although bibis did not usually take English names. They add that an Ann Heatly married Joseph Welsh in Calcutta in 1792. Heatly himself was painted, together with his sister Temperance, in Calcutta by Arthur William Devis
.
A subsequent obituary of his brother, Patrick, recorded that Heatly had been "well known ... for talent and amiability".
In 1884 and 1885, long after his death, notices appeared in The London Gazette advising that he was among a group of people who had not claimed shares in the British Fisheries Society and giving his position as Collector of Purnia.
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
and, with John Sumner, established what is considered to be the first coal mine in India.
Early life
Heatly was born in Newport, Rhode IslandNewport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
in 1751. He was the oldest son of a merchant, Andrew Heatly, and his wife, Mary (née Grant), both of whom were of Scots descent. His younger siblings included a brother, Patrick, and a sister, Temperance. Another sister, Mary, was the mother of the historian, cartographer
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
and administrator of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
, James Tod
James Tod
Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod was an English officer of the British East India Company and an Oriental scholar.Tod was born in London and educated in Scotland, later joining the East India Company as a military officer. He travelled to India in 1799 as a cadet in the Bengal Army where he rose...
.
The Heatly family was loyal to the British crown, and those of the family living in America at the time of the revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
against British control chose to leave. Temperance subsequently returned after being married.
East India Company
Heatly joined the East India Company as a "writer" in 1766, and later worked as a merchant. His easy manner, his family's loyalty to Britain, and his connections to other American royalists stood him in good stead within the Company at the time of the American Revolution and beyond. When Cornwallis was appointed Governor-General of IndiaGovernor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
, still smarting from his military defeats in America, Heatly became a favourite. He was Collector
District collector
The District Collector is the district head of administration of the bureaucracy in a state of India. Though he/she is appointed and is under general supervision of the state government, he/she has to be a member of the elite IAS recruited by the Central Government...
of Chotanagpur
Chota Nagpur Division
Chota Nagpur Division, also known as the South-West Frontier, was an administrative division of British India. It included most of the present-day state of Jharkhand as well as adjacent portions of West Bengal, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh....
and Palamu
Palamu District
Palamau is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India. The district is currently a part of the Red Corridor.-Geography:The district lies between 23°50′ and 24°8′ north latitude and between 83°55′ and 84°30′ east longitude...
by 1774 and by 1783 he held a similar position for Purnia
Purnia Division
Purnia division is an administrative geographical unit of Bihar state of India. Purnia is the administrative headquarters of the division. Currently , the division consists of Purnia district, Katihar district, Araria district, and Kishanganj district....
. He held that position still in 1788.
He became a magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
for the province of Dana and at the time of his death was the chief judge of appeals for Decca
Decca
Decca may refer to:*Decca Records, a 1929 British record label, also known as Decca Music Group*Decca Studios, a recording facility in West Hampstead, England, owned by Decca records...
.
Although Heatly worked for the Company, one of his contemporaries – William Green – suggested that he could be used as a conduit for letters which might subvert the aims of the Company. A 1784 letter sent by Green to Christopher Champlin in the USA, discussed plans for a trading voyage to Bengal and elsewhere. Green says
Coal mining
Kautilya recorded mining activities in India around 400 BCE, in his ArthashastraArthashastra
The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya and , who are traditionally identified with The Arthashastra (IAST: Arthaśāstra) is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and...
but these operations related to precious stones and metals rather than coal. The first documented discovery of coal was in 1774, when Heatly and Sumner (another colonial administrator) saw it being used to create fires while they were travelling on the Damodar River
Damodar River
Damodar River originates near Chandwa village, Palamau district, on the Chota Nagpur Plateau in the Jharkhand state in eastern India, and flows eastward for about 592 km through the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal to the estaury of the River Hooghly...
. J. Homfray, the manager of a colliery at Narayankuri and the first person to write a detailed account of the Raniganj Coalfield
Raniganj Coalfield
Raniganj Coalfield is primarily located in the Asansol and Durgapur subdivisions of Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It spreads over to the neighbouring districts of Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia and Dhanbad.-History:...
, says that the area was at that time under the rule of the Rajah of Ramghur and that On 11 August 1774 they put forward a proposal for commercial extraction in a part of what now forms the Raniganj Coalfield.
They wrote to Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings PC was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.-Early life:...
, the Governor-General, requesting
The proposal discussed the possibility of exports and included the stipulation that they would retain the rights to any other minerals and metals discovered in the area on payment of a 20% royalty to the Company, a figure which also applied to the coal. They made an exception for any iron that might be found, suggesting that the Company should determine the nature of any rights if and when it occurred. It was also suggested that European workers would be employed. An agreement was reached by October 1774, by which time a third person, called Redfearne (sometimes, Redferne), had joined in business with Heatly and Sumner.
Homfray believes that the first of the mines to be worked was at the village of Hattoreah Aytoorah, being a place where the coal seam came to the surface. By September 1775 around 2500 maunds (91.5 imperial tons
Long ton
Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
) of coal had been sent by river to Calcutta for testing. These tests were delayed, at least in part because the partners in the business were also engaged in their duties on behalf of the East India Company. Some prompting in 1777 caused the tests finally to be undertaken in January 1778. The results showed that the coal was of too poor a quality for use by the Company, producing 50% less heat than British coal.
Sumner had returned to England after the tests, and European miners brought in by Heatly were ravaged by disease. Furthermore, Heatly was posted far away to Purnia, making personal supervision impossible, and from 1781 the East India Company began to make it more difficult for its employees to conduct private ventures of this nature. These were all additional issues, on top of the loss of the East India Company as a potentially large purchaser, and the venture petered out. It was not until around 1814–1815 that the first coal pit was sunk for the purpose of extraction in India.
Death
Heatly died in Bengal in 1793. Although unmarried, a nephew has suggested that Heatly "formed a connection with a native of the Country, a thing of frequent occurrence at that time in India, by whom he had several children, whom he educated well and provided for – a daughter of his Mary was sent to England for her education." Christie'sChristie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
, the auctioneers, note that a 1786 portrait of an Indian woman possibly called "Ann" and painted by Charles Smith (1749-1824) in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
, might be that bibi (mistress), although bibis did not usually take English names. They add that an Ann Heatly married Joseph Welsh in Calcutta in 1792. Heatly himself was painted, together with his sister Temperance, in Calcutta by Arthur William Devis
Arthur William Devis
Arthur William Devis was an English painter of history paintings and portraits. He was appointed draughtsman in a voyage projected by the East India Company in 1783, under Captain Henry Wilson, in which he was wrecked on the Pelew Islands before proceeding to Canton and thence to Bengal...
.
A subsequent obituary of his brother, Patrick, recorded that Heatly had been "well known ... for talent and amiability".
In 1884 and 1885, long after his death, notices appeared in The London Gazette advising that he was among a group of people who had not claimed shares in the British Fisheries Society and giving his position as Collector of Purnia.