THE CHURCHES
became the wife of William Watts, Esq., Senior Member of the Council in Bengal.
When the Nawab Aliverdi Khan died, in 1756, and was succeeded by his grandson, Suraj-ud-Dowlah, Mr. Watts was chief of the Company's factory at Cossimbazar, near Murshedabad; and when the young nawab plundered the factory, Mr. and Mrs. Watts with their three children were taken to Murshedabad, where Mr. Watts was placed in strict confinement, while his wife and children, two girls and a boy, were taken under the protection of the begum, the widow of Aliverdi Khan, and grandmother of Suraj-ud-Dowlah. Mrs. Watts had, no doubt, been on terms of friendship with the begum during the lifetime of the old nawab: she now received every care and attention from her friend, who, while the nawab was still in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, sent the mother and children under a strong escort to Chandernagore, where they were hospitably received and entertained by the French authorities. Mr. Watts had in the mean time been sent to Hughly, where he and other English prisoners were released by the nawab when he reached that town on his return journey from Calcutta, an act of clemency which has always been attributed to the influence of his grandmother, the old begum.
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