[SIEGE OF PATNA],
SHELLEY (Samuel), after. &
HEATH (James), engraver.
William Hay ... In 1763 being of the Supreme Council at Calcutta, he with one more was appointed to treat with MEER COSSIM, and remained a voluntary hostage, that his senior and others of the Countrymen might be allowed to leave - Patna, where by the Tyra
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[SIEGE OF PATNA],
SHELLEY (Samuel), after. &
HEATH (James), engraver.
William Hay ... In 1763 being of the Supreme Council at Calcutta, he with one more was appointed to treat with MEER COSSIM, and remained a voluntary hostage, that his senior and others of the Countrymen might be allowed to leave - Patna, where by the Tyra
A moving tribute to William Hay (1735-1763), who was one of forty-five East India Company employees killed in early October 1763. The massacre was a response by Nabob Mir Qasim to William Ellis’ attempt to seize Patna for the East India Company on 25 June that year. In addition to the Eat India Company men, two hundred sepoys were imprisoned and later killed for refusing to defect to Mir Qasim.
The British Museum catalogue describes the print accordingly: “Portrait of William Hay and his two sons Henry and Thomas, and an empty frame for his third son William; William Hay Senior on top, bust to the right in wig and cloak; below on the left the portrait of Henry Hay, half length to the right; and on the right the portrait of Thomas Hay, half length, looking to the right; all in oval frames with title above; in the centre an empty oval with the title ‘William Hay’ with commemorative slab below; after S. Shelley.”
Each portrait is set within an oval lettered with the name of the sitter and dates of birth and death. James Heath was the printer to George III.
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