Diameter 18.1cm (7.1in)
Silver. William IV shaped circular dish with lobed border, centrally inscribed 'Presented / By Khan Saib Kurreem / Khan Bahadoor, / to Capn. John Paterson /, as a token of gratitude for his kind / - /ness & attention during the Pafsage / from Calcutta to England / in the Ship Edinburgh / August 1840’. Weight approx: 6.3oz. Maker’s mark of Robinson, Edkins & Aston. Hallmarked Birmingham 1835.
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Captain John Paterson (1783-1850), of the HEICS maritime service, was born Lanarkshire, Scotland, was twice married and had at least five children. He spent decades at sea in the service of the East India Company, and is probably the same Captain Paterson who commanded the Glorioso (1822) on its voyage from Bombay with a cargo of Malwa opium for the Chinese market.
Over the course Paterson’s career he would have seen the Company’s monopoly on trade with the East eroded to the point of its enforced withdrawal in 1834. Under the new operating conditions legitimate shipowners carried British goods to China and brought back tea, while resisting the temptation to boost earnings by smuggling opium.
The East Indiaman ‘Edinburgh' was a 1300-ton armed merchantman built for the East India Company (HEICS) by Wigram & Green at Blackwall. She was launched on 9 November 1825. She was big by the standards of her type and was designed to carry large and valuable cargoes. A drawing, later published as an aquatint, in the National Maritime Museum collection entitled 'The launch of the Honourable East India Company's ship 'Edinburgh'..., 1825’ gives good impression of the vessel’s importance. As with HEICS ships of earlier generations she was armed against depredations of pirates in the South China Seas.
Of ‘Khan Saib Kurreem Khan Bahadoor’ we know little other than he was the recipient of the honorific titles Khan Sahib and Khan Bahadur. The former, a compound of Khan ‘Leader’ and Sahib ‘Master’, was originally conferred by the Mughal Empire on Muslim subjects in recognition of public services rendered. It was adopted by the British Indian Empire for the same purpose, The latter title ‘Khan Bahadur’ is the more prestigious of the two and was similarly conferred.
Contemporary newspapers record Paterson and the Edinburgh at Saugor island in the Bay of Bengal in March 1840, preparatory to loading at Calcutta, and being recorded as ‘inward’ at the Customs House, London on 19 August 1840 (Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser - Thursday 17 September 1840. Morning Herald (London) - Wednesday 19 August 1840).