Thomas Pitt - in The Mughal Empire

In The Mughal Empire

These native governors (Subedars and Nawabs) have the knack of tramping upon us and extorting what they please of our estate from us...they will never forbid doing so till we have made them sensible of our power.

In 1674, Pitt went to India with the British East India Company, however he soon began trading for himself as an 'interloper' in defiance of the East India Company's legal monopoly on Indian trade. Upon his return to England he was fined £400 for his actions, although by that time Pitt was already very wealthy and could easily afford the fine. He then proceeded to buy the manor of Stratford and its surrounding borough Old Sarum. With that acquisition he gained a seat in the House of Commons, as that was a rotten borough. It was a purchase that would have a significant effect on British history, as the seat would pass to Pitt's rather influential descendants. Pitt returned to India, and eventually was hired by the British East India Company.

In August 1698, one John Pitt arrived at Madras as the President of the British East India Company and was entrusted to negotiate an end to the Child's War with the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Soon in August 1699 he had been appointed as the Governor of Fort St. George, in the year 1702 when the fort itself was besieged by Daud Khan of the Carnatic the Mughal Empire's local Subedar (lieutenant), Thomas Pitt was instructed to vie for peace. He later bought out some of the Carnatic region, he began garrisoning British East India Company forts by raising regiments of local Sepoy's by hiring from Hindu warrior castes, he armed them with the latest weapons and positioned them under the command of British officers in order to save Madras, his base of operations from further Mughal harassment.