Thomas Pitt’s tenure as Governor of Madras was regarded as a golden age, but what he is remembered for is his diamond.
The East India Company was founded late in the reign of Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603) to explore the possibilities of overseas trade. By the 1670s, the Company had secured a legal monopoly on English trade in India, but some free spirits chose to go into business for themselves. In 1926, a historian modestly calling himself ‘an Indian Mahomedan’ told us about one of them: Thomas Pitt.