Thomas Pitt went out to India as an employee of the East India Company, but soon went into business for himself. This was illegal, but not piracy so he and others like him were dubbed ‘interlopers’. For twenty years, he was so successful in this role that in 1697 Pitt was appointed President of the Company’s headquarters in Madras.

Pitt proved an able administrator, but his fame rests on his purchase in 1701 of a large diamond, mined at Kollur, for around £21,000. At first he wore it in his hat, but in 1717 he sold it to the French Regent for over six times what he paid for it, and its value has been rising ever since.

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