Humphrey Cooke

Humphrey Cooke takes possession of Bombay, 1665

Humphrey Cooke, known in Portuguese chronicles as Inofre Coque, was the first English governor of the Bombay Presidency during the rule of the Honourable East India Company.

Cooke completed negotiations for the Portuguese surrender of Bombay, begun by Sir Abraham Shipman, and assumed office as governor on 18 February 1665, after being conveyed to Bombay by three East India Company ships. According to Professor Shafaat Ahmad Khan, Cooke "took himself personally the possession and delivery of the said port and town of Bombay, walking thereupon, taking in his hand earth and stones, entering and walking upon its bastions, putting his hands to the walls thereof, and making all other like acts which in right were necessary without any impediment or contradiction."

Cooke left office on 5 November 1666, and his treaty was subsequently repudiated by King Charles II. He acquired Mahim, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala for the English from the Portuguese.

References

• Shafaat Ahmad Khan, Anglo Portuguese negotiations relating to Bombay, 1660-1677
• Joseph Gerson Da Cunha, The origin of Bombay, Asian Educational Services, 1993, page 260. ISBN 978-81-206-0815-3.
• Frederick Charles Danvers, The Portuguese in India: being a history of the rise and decline of their eastern empire, Vol. 1., Asian Educational Services, 1988, page 343. ISBN 978-81-206-0391-2.
• "Notes and Queries", London, s. x. 4 July 1908, page 1.