| Charles Eyre | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1729 Kew, Surrey, England |
| Occupation | Colonial Administrator |
| Known for | President of Bengal |
Sir Charles Eyre (died 1729), of Kew, in the county of Surrey, knight, was an administrator of the English East India Company, and President of Bengal.[1]
It was in December 1699 that Eyre was appointed President and Governor of Fort William in Bengal, and Bengal was at the same time constituted a Presidency. He was the first governor appointed by the Company to Bengal since William Hedges (agent and governor) in 1681 and William Gyfford (president and governor) in December 1683 (after which the title of governor had been temporarily dropped in favour of agent and chief of the bay of Bengal, Bengal having again been subordinated to Madras).[2]
Eyre was married to Mary, eldest daughter of Job Charnock, and while in office started work on Fort William in 1696.[3] On 10 November 1698, Eyre signed the document legalizing the British occupation of three small villages that formed the basis of the Fort William settlement; his signature, and not that of his father-in-law Job Charnock (who died 1692) appears on the document signed with the original landlords, the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family.
In his career as a merchant Eyre amassed a fortune of 23,000 pagodas, which through the ingenuity of Thomas Pitt he converted into diamonds to take back with him to England in 1702, having first been ensured a sum of £13,800 through a bill of exchange.[4] His will was proved on 23 October 1729.
Eyre was a sometime resident of Kew, Richmond, Surrey, where he leased a house within the Kew Palace grounds from Sir Richard Levett, Lord Mayor of London who owned the palace as well as the house he leased to Eyre and the estate surrounding them. Levett was a powerful early London merchant who was a merchant adventurer in the Honourable East India Company and one of the first governors of the new Bank of England.[5]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Francis Ellis |
President of Bengal 12 August 1693 - January, 1694 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by none |
Chief Agent of Bengal January, 1694- 1698 |
Succeeded by John Beard |
| Preceded by John Beard |
Chief Agent of Bengal December, 1699- 26 May 1700 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by |
President of Bengal 26 May 1700- 7 January 1701 |
Succeeded by John Beard |