William Methwold  William Methwold (sometimes spelled Methold), (baptised 1590 South Pickenham, near Swaffham, Norfolk- died 5 March 1653, Kensington), was an English merchant and colonial administrator in India. He is credited with identifying the site of Bombay as a strategic port. A fictional character in the novel "Midnight's Children" by author Salman Rushdie bears the same name and is described as a direct descendant. (See List of Midnight's Children characters). He was the son of Thomas Methwold and his wife, Susan both of Swaffham, Norfolk. Sir William Methold, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was his uncle. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an English merchant, and served him for four years in London and then five in Middelburg, Netherlands. During this time he gained knowledge of Latin, and became fluent in Dutch and French. In September 1615 Methwold was accepted for service in the East India Company as a linguist and sailed in its 1616 fleet to Surat, in Gujarat, India. He travelled much in India, and visited the diamond mines of Golconda in 1622, being the first Englishman to accomplish the journey. His narrative of his Indian travels, entitled "Relations of the Kingdome of Golchonda and other neighbouring Nations within the Gulfe of Bengal &c.", was printed in 1626, when Methold had returned to England, in the fifth volume of Samuel Purchas's "Pilgrims." He prospered as a merchant in the employ of the company from a base in Masulipatam on the Coromandel coast. He practiced some private trading, which was forbidden by company rules and in 1622 was recalled to England to answer charges which he freely admitted . He left the company and spent a number of years practicing as an independent trader but reconciled with it in 1628 when he was given the freedom of the East India Company, entitling him to become a shareholder. While in England he was married in April 1624 to Mary Wright (d. 1652), daughter of William Wright of Sevenoaks, Kent. With her he had two sons who both became merchants. His skill as a negotiator and linguist, he could by now also converse in Persian, the language of the Mughal court and high officials, were noted and he was appointed president of Surat in November 1633. In 1635 he negotiated the Goa Convention, a pact with the Portuguese which ceased hostilities in India and gave English ships access to Portuguese resources.