Person:Richard Elkington (8)

The Elkingtons of the 16th and 17th century were a wealthy family. Their many business concerns and several homes are witness to this. They lived in around the area of Shawell in Leicestershire although they can be found in other counties at this time. They were merchants and holders of land. They were also great public benefactors. This wealth is marked by the granting of Arms to Thomas Elkington, a descendant of the Elkingtons of Shawell.

The Elkingtons of Shawell were London Merchants and felt that they should expand their trade. In 1600 a Charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth I to form a new trading company to challenge the Dutch and Portuguese in the Spice market which they dominated and to encourage trading with the East Indies Islands. The Elkingtons immediately invested money and goods in these voyages to improve their wealth. Thomas Elkington of Minchinhampton was a Merchant in both London and Bristol. He had married Joan Garway in 1596, who was the daughter of Sir William Garway, Lord Mayor of London. Sir William was one of the first members of the committee of twelve in charge when the company was formed in 1600.

At first the voyages were financed by separate subscriptions but after the first twelve voyages bad accounting and confusion arose. It was decided to abandon this method and substitute the “Joint Stock” voyages whereby the cost was by subscription over a number of years.

At this time there were three great empires in Asia: the Ottoman/Turkish Empire, the Chinese empire and the Mughal Empire of India. These all offered us the chance to offer our goods with which we could trade, merchandise consisting basically of ivory, broadcloth, camel lead, quicksilver, tin and pewter, iron and apparel. Also there were knives, strong waters, guns and biblical and classical pictures. The value of this cargo for this Joint Voyage was £33,489 with £21,262 of Spanish Gold Rials to purchase goods for the return journey. £659 of this was in gifts for local potentates and traders.

It was the first of these Joint Voyages that the Elkington brothers went on. The first voyage had a subscription of £106, 000 in 1613 and a subsequent subscription of £107,000 for the next three years.

Two of the sons of Humfrey Elkington and his wife Maud [Magdalen] Parslow went on the joint voyage of the East India Company. Humfrey and Maud were living in Malmsbury at this time where at least one of their sons was born and where they were also buried in Malmsbury Abbey Graveyard. The two sons were Humfrey and Thomas and we have a good record of their journey left by Thomas in his diary. [The Journal of CaptaineThomas Elkington]

Thomas was put in charge of a new boat which had been built at Deptford, London, and launched on the first of January 1613/14 and called the ‘New Yeares Gift’ [650 tons]. Together with three other ships, the ‘Hector’ [500 tons], the ‘Merchants Hope’ [300 tons], and the ‘Solomon’ [200 tons]. They set sail from the Downs [off the Kentish Coast at the mouth of the Thames] on 3 March 1613/14.

The “General” of the expedition was Nicholas Downton whose flagship was the ‘New Yeares Gift’ and was in charge of Martin Pring who as captain had made three visits to America already. Downton, who had been on earlier voyages of the company, was a capable and conscientious leader. In each vessel the General delegated his command to the of the company’s factors, on this voyage it was Thomas Elkington on the Solomon. Another factor with him on this journey, was his brother Humphrey. The company also sent out several boys to be left at Surat and Bantam and other places to learn the language and the trade.

In his diary Thomas Elkington records many interesting facts and tells of many incidents. They travelled around the coast of each country; south past Spain and on down Africa. Round the Cape and then stopping at Madagascar and several other islands they touched on the SE coast of Arabia. All the time they were dealing in commodities and buying goods to bring home. Finally reaching Swally and the town of Surat on the West Coast of India. Here they fell into a battle with the Portuguese which they won and obtained wood to replace the broken mast of the Hope.

They made many calls on many places all the time buying and selling. For instance at Masulipatam on the east coast of India, they bought porcelane from Japan.

Their diet at times was awful. Whilst they had adequately revitalled the ship at the Cape of Good Hope, at Soldana off the coast of Arabia they lived mostly on fish and water. However Monden [another diarist] tells that they bought 25 sheep and five oxen from the people of Soldana who they considered to be a miserable brown people neither sowing or reaping and living in hide huts built around a circle with the cattle in the middle. They could be smelt from a far distance due to them covering their bodies in rancid fat which made them look black.

There were many dangers on these voyages, not only from the sea and its attendant illnesses and fevers, but also from various pirates who, if they picked up one of these ships, would gain rich pickings that could be sold.

(Judy Jupar)