Editing Job Charnock (section)

==Chief agent in Bengal==
[[File:Plaque on Baptismal Font at Mary's Church at Fort st. George.JPG|thumb|Plaque with details of Baptism of Charnock's daughters, on Baptismal Font at [[St. Mary's Church, Chennai|St. Mary's Church]], [[Fort St. George]], Madras]]
When Beard died on 28 August 1685, Charnock finally assumed the position of agent and chief in the Bay of Bengal.<ref>'The Imperial Gazetteer of India', ''The Times'' (26 May 1881), p. 5, col. C.</ref> By this time a crisis had arisen over restrictions on trade, and in particular the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] [[nawab]]'s imposition of a customs duty of 3½ per cent, which the English refused to pay on the grounds that it was in breach of the original [[firman]] which exempted them from customs.<ref name="Bengal', 1889 p. 11">'The Early History of the English in Bengal', ''The Times'' (31 August 1889), p. 11 col. D.</ref> Relations with the nawab deteriorated into violent conflict. When Charnock received word of his promotion, Cossimbazar was under siege, and he could not leave to take up his responsibilities at Hooghly until April 1686. On his arrival he continued to resist what he saw as extortion, by force or persuasion, and when these did not serve, by taking the Company's business elsewhere.

Finding himself again besieged at Hooghly, Charnock put the Company's goods and servants on board his light vessels. Pursued by the nawab's troops, on 20 December 1686 he dropped down the river {{convert|27|mi|km}} to [[Sutanuti]], then "a low swampy village of scattered huts",<ref name="Bhabani Bhattacharya 1962">Bhabani Bhattacharya, 'City of Cities is now callous', ''The Times'' (26 January 1962), xxi.</ref> but a place well chosen for the purpose of defence.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bhaduri |first1=Saugata |title=Polycoloniality: European transactions with Bengal from the 13th to the 19th century |year=2020 |location=New Delhi |publisher=Bloomsbury |page=6 |isbn=978-93-88271-41-7}}</ref> From Sutanuti he moved on to [[Hijli Kingdom|Hijili]] in February 1687, where he was again besieged from March to June 1687. After negotiating a truce and safe passage, he transferred the factory back to Sutanuti in November 1687.

It was probably during this interlude at Sutanuti that Charnock suffered a personal loss in the death of his wife Maria. They had been together for some twenty-five years. They had one son (who would predecease his father), and three surviving daughters who were later [[baptised]] in [[Madras]]. Although Maria was buried like a Christian, and not cremated as a Hindu,<ref name="Grant, 1847 p. 260">Grant, 'Origin and Progress of English Connexion with India', ''Calcutta Review'', No. XIII, Vol. VII (January–June 1847), p. 260.</ref> Charnock was said to sacrifice a [[Rooster|cock]] over her grave each year on the anniversary of her death, "after the [[Paganism|Pagan Manner]]".<ref name="Alexander Hamilton 1727 pp. 8"/> University librarian Prabodh Biswas writes that the ritual resembles the [[Sufi]] worship of the ''panch peer'' or "five saints", a custom which Charnock "is said to have adopted".<ref>{{cite book |last=Biswas |first=Prabodh |chapter=Job Charnock |year=1990 |editor-last=Chaudhuri |editor-first=Sukanta |editor-link=Sukanta Chaudhuri |title=Calcutta: The Living City |volume=I: The Past |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=6–7 |isbn=978-0-19-563696-3}}</ref> He was also said to have built his garden house at [[Barrackpore]] so as to be near her grave.<ref name="Grant, 1847 p. 260"/>

Even though Charnock had married a native woman, he had a certain animosity towards the natives due to his sufferings at the hands of the native rulers. Captain Hamilton had said, "the Governor (Charnock) at the hour of dinner and near his dining room had delinquents (native) punished that he might satiate himself with their cries."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/b22274777/page/3/mode/1up | title=Notes on the medical topography of Calcutta | date=1837 }}</ref>