Mistrust

The company of Englishmen that George Strachan had joined in Persia was a motley collection of men of good character and education, mixed with others of little education who included the scourings of the Fleet prison. They had been drawn together by the common ambition of making their fortunes in the East. As company servants, they all received a salary which varied according to their responsibilities, but in each case would never have made them rich. To become wealthy, they had to engage in trade for them-selves; this was in addition to any work they did for the company. The original intention of the East India Company's incorporation as a joint stock company was that its servants should not trade on their own behalf. Given the circumstances, this condition was impossible to enforce. In the first half century of the East India Company's existence, each trading voyage to the East was an individual investment with its profits or losses being assigned to the investors who backed it. This meant that investors in successful voyages made great profits, but when ships did not return their investors lost every-thing. The position of company servants abroad was equally financially precarious, and it was only natural that they should look out for themselves by indulging in private trading. In 1657 the company changed its investment arrangements by producing annual accounts and allocating the risks and profits arising from its enterprises among all the investors. At the same time, the futility of trying to prevent its servants from engaging in private trade was recognised, and they were formally allowed to conduct trade within the country and retain any profit they made; however, trading in goods to be shipped to England was strictly forbidden (Robins 2012: 24–5).

In 1619 the company trading station in Persia was beset with the problems these early restrictions caused and it was the job of the company president, Mr Barker, to keep control of private trading. Unsurprisingly, this led to conflict. The letters preserved in the archives of the East India Company throw some light on the troubled relationships which had grown there. It appears that when Strachan first arrived in Isfahan, the English merchants were still trying to secure their first successful trade on behalf of the company. An earlier failed attempt was the cause of acrimony among the traders.