Child's War

Child's War
French illustration of an Englishman requesting pardon from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
Date 1686–1690 Location Mughal India Result Mughal victory
Belligerents
East India Company	Mughal Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sir Josiah Child, Bt	Aurangzeb Shaista Khan

Child's War was a war between the English East India Company and the Mughal Empire of India which lasted from 1686 to 1690.

In 1682 the English East India Company sent William Hedges to Shaista Khan, the Mughal governor of Bengal, in order to obtain a firman: an imperial directive that would grant England regular trading privileges throughout the Mughal empire. The company's governor in London, Sir Josiah Child, then interfered with Hedges's mission, causing Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb to break off the negotiations. After that Child started a war with the Mughals.

Admiral Nicholson was sent out in 1685 with twelve ships of war, carrying 200 pieces of cannon and a body of 600 men, to be reinforced by 400 from Madras. His instructions were to seize and fortify Chittagong, for which purpose 200 additional guns were placed on board, to demand the cession of the surrounding territory, to conciliate the Zamindars, to establish a mint, and to enter into a treaty with the ruler of Arakan. But the fleet was dispersed during the voyage, and several of the vessels, instead of steering for Chittagong, entered the Hooghly, and being joined by the Madras troops, anchored off the Company’s factory.

The arrival of so formidable an expedition alarmed Shaista Khan, and he offered to compromise his differences with the English; but an unforeseen event brought the negotiation to an abrupt close. Three English soldiers, strolling through the marketplace of Hooghly, quarrelled with Mughal officials, and were severely beaten. After that the English admiral opened fire on the town and burnt down 500 houses.

In 1686 new negotiations started in Chuttanutty which the Mughals prolonged till their troops could be assembled to attack the English encampment, and English commander Job Charnock retired with his soldiers and establishments to the island of Ingelee, at the mouth of the Hooghly River. It was a low and deadly swamp, covered with long grass, without any fresh water. In three months one half of the English troops were dead from disease.

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