Job Charnock

Job Charnock (c. 1630–1692) was an employee and an administrator of the English East India Company, and traditionally regarded as the founder of the city of Calcutta, now Kolkata. However, after the landmark Calcutta High Court ruling on 16 May 2003, his name has been purged from all official documents as the founder of Kolkata.

Early life and career

Charnock came from a Lancashire family and was the second son of Richard Charnock of London. Stephen Charnock (1628–1680) was probably his elder brother. He was part of a private trading enterprise in the employ of the merchant Maurice Thomson (died 1676) between 1650 and 1653, but in January 1658 he joined the East India Company's service in Bengal, where he was stationed at Cossimbazar, Hooghly

Charnock was described as a silent morose man, not popular among his contemporaries, but as "always a faithful man to the Company", which rated his services very highly. In addition to his business acumen, he won the Company's esteem by stamping out smuggling among his less scrupulous colleagues. His zeal in this regard made him enemies who throughout his life spread malicious gossip to discredit him.