"At the request of his mother, the East India Company entered Richard Hudson's name on the ship Samaritan, gave him five pounds, and sent him to Bantam, Java, Japan, then Bengal, India, to serve as a factor for the company."[1]
Multiple sources note that Richard made a fortune and was one of the first Europeans permitted residence in Imperial Japan. Animosity was apparent between the company and Richard and at one point incarceration in England was threatened; though, Richard retired to India and many of his descendants are found in America.
Richard is mentioned a number of times in the records of the East India Company, including:
1622: Ready to be sent from Firando (Japan) to Yedo with presents for the Emperor of Japan and his Council[2]
1623: Sent with letter and gifts to the Court of the Emporer of Japan at Miako[3]
1628: Was the "sufficient man" left with a small house in Golconda, India to deal in porcelain[4]
1630: Elected as factor for the East India Company[5]
1632: Involved in a dispute over a debt, while based at Masulipatam (Machilipatnam), India[7]
Richard probably died in 1648 in India, as an inventory of his estate was sent back to the East India Company with correspondence dated 13 January 1648/9.[8]
↑ William Foster, The English Factories in India 1649-1650 - A Calendar of Documents in the India Office, Westminster (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914) p. 233 footnote 1.
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