John Prinsep

As a cadet in the service of the East India Company, John Prinsep travelled to Bombay where he became the earliest British merchant to plant indigo and accumulated considerable wealth during his residence in India.

Born in 1746, he lost his father and two sisters in an outbreak of fever in 1768. Before he moved to India, he was engaged in the cotton trade of the East India Company in several London merchant houses that were specialized in fabrics. He arrived in Bombay in 1771 shortly after the arrival of Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal with whom he became a close friend.

Soon after arrival, Prinsep discovered the potential that was hiding in indigo. In 1779 he introduced the cultivation and manufacture of indigo at a plantation located in Nilgang, near Baraset. Since the American Revolutionary War blocked the export of indigo from South Carolina, Indian producers established a control of the market.

Within a year, Prinsep was able to open a copper mint at Pulta in 1780 with the profits from indigo trade, after he and Alexander Cunningham discovered the copper mines at Rotasgarh, producing the first copper coinage in India.

He was also involved in the textile business and he opened a cotton fabric printing plant in Bengal. One of his sources of wealth was his ten years employment as the chintz contractor for the East India Company, which involved adapting British calico-making techniques to making a cloth called chintz.

Within a few years, Prinsep became one of the wealthiest men in India. One part of his wealth he used for purchase of ships for trade. He married Sophia Elizabeth, a sister of James Peter Auriol, secretary to government during Warren Hastings' administration.

By 1788 Prinsep left India and arrived to London with a fortune of £40,000 which he used to set himself up in business as an East India agent and Italian silk merchant. He was also appointed Master of the Worshipful Company of Skinners of London.

Back in London, Prinsep became one of the founders of the Westminster Life Assurance Society, and became active in politics and public services.