George Foxcraft

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George Foxcraft
Agent of Fort St George (Madras)
Preceded by	Edward Winter
Succeeded by	William Langhorn
Born	c. 1634
Died	26 February 1715

George Foxcraft was the ninth administrator of the colony of Madras in British India for two terms starting from August 1665 to 16 September 1665 and 22 August 1668 to January 1670^[1]. During the rule of his predecessor, Sir Edward Winter, he was imprisoned on suspicion of having made utterances against King Charles II. However, when his term came to an end, he took over as the British East India Company's Agent and was the first to be given the title "Governor of Fort St George". The Company's letter constituting the Madras Agent and Council "Our Governor and Agent and Consul in Fort St George" and empowering them to execute judgment in all cases, civil and criminal, was occasioned by the difficulty that arose as to the jurisdiction of the Madras officials over capital cases. This difficulty was solved by the new title and "to modern occupants of the gubernatorial chair it is probably unknown that they owe their designation to a Madras murder."^[2]

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Preceded by Sir Edward Winter	Agent of Madras August1665–September1665	Succeeded by Sir Edward Winter
Preceded by Sir Edward Winter	Agent of Madras (Restored) May 22, 1668–January1670	Succeeded by William Langhorn