11 Facts About Streynsham Master

Sir Streynsham Master was an English colonial administrator who was one of the 17th-century pioneers of the English East India Company.

Streynsham Master banned sati and prohibited the burning of a Hindu widow in 1680 in what is the first official British response to sati.

Streynsham Master made English the sole official language and language of court in the Madras Presidency, replacing the Portuguese, Tamil and Malayalam languages.

Streynsham Master had a distinguished career in the East India Company right from his early days.

Streynsham Master served as the Acting President of the company's factory at Surat during the visit of the factory's President Gerald Aungier to the new colony at Bombay.

In 1676, even before the then Agent Sir William Langhorne's removal from power, Streynsham Master was nominated in advance as the next Agent of Madras in the case of emergency.

Streynsham Master was promptly arrested by the company's troops and dispatched across the frontier.

Streynsham Master demanded that the English agree to pay him an annual tribute of 2,000 pagodas in order to lift the embargo.

Streynsham Master is credited with having introduced the role of a scavenger who was required to remove the dirt and filth of the streets.

Streynsham Master was the son of Richard Master of East Langdon, near Dover, Kent.

Streynsham Master served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1712.