93 EARLY HISTORY; MADRAS Nicks, chief at Conimeer,* informing him that Surgeon Blackwall is required by the commander of the Resolution. He was appointed Surgeon at Conimeer in Cons. of 24th June, 1689.
"Richard Blackwall formerly Surgions Mate of Ship Resolution but marrying here to an Inglish-woman desires to serve the Rt Honble Compa at their garrison of Conimeer where we have occasion for him, and Capt. Wm Sharpe being now supplyed wth an able Surgion from Capt. Brangwin he is order'd to discharge him from his Ship and deliver him his concernes aboard also to pay to his order in England what wages is due to him."
In 1693 he was surgeon at Fort St. David. The Nawab of the Karnatik attempted to get possession of the English settle- ments by treachery, as described in The Annals of the Honourable East Company, Vol. III, p. 154, where the author, John Bruce, M.P., the Company's Historiographer, writes-
"Fort St. David, being the weakest, was first thought of, and the Surgeon of the place, a Dr Blackwell, who had, from his profession, got access to the Mogul's camp, became, for a large bribe, the instrument of the enemy;-in return, he was to be made Governor of Porto Novo, and to hold it under the Mogul's protection. Blackwell's treason was fortu- nately discovered, and he was seized and carried to Madras, where he made a full confession."
Bruce gives the name as Blackwell, but in the original papers it is always spelt Blackwall. To say that he made a full con- fession is hardly correct. He admitted having been promised by the Nawab-whom he seems to have treated professionally, and thus made his acquaintance-the Government of Porto Novo, a small town on the sea coast, a little south of Fort St. David, in what is now the South Arcot district. But he denied that he had agreed to betray Fort St. David or Kadalur. The Madras Council do not seem to have considered the matter very serious, but were of opinion that his sanity, rather than his loyalty, was at fault in his negotiations with the Nawab. He was kept under guard, as a prisoner in the fort, for a little over a year. The Council decided to send him to England, but changed their minds, and soon after his release he was enrolled, on 1st April, 1695, as On 21st Nov. of the same an Attorney in the Mayor's Court. year Dr. Browne challenged him to fight a duel. In the Cons. of 25th Feb., 1696/97, he is appointed surgeon to the West Coast,
- John Nicks, the Madras civilian who received from Bulkley and Browne, four years later, the medical certificate quoted above.
