Description
Fifty-two, thin and yellowed, and quiet in a way that makes people fill silences at him. Twenty-six years in Bengal and has not been home since the Peace of Amiens. Calcutta is his world now, entirely, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
He knows where every body is buried because he filed the paperwork.
Background
Revenue department. Twenty-six years of assessments, land settlements, subscriptions, charitable foundations and their accounts. Every financial record in this Presidency for a generation has passed under his hand.
Married to Harriet Courtney, who came out at twenty and never went back either. Between them they could destroy any reputation in the settlement, and they are too polite to do it, which makes everyone slightly nervous around them.
Motivations
To finish out his service quietly and correctly. He is not corrupt, not ambitious, and not curious. He would like to be left alone with his files.
What Meg Says
The Courtneys are Calcutta. They were here before anyone and they’ll be here after everyone. Harriet knows every scandal for thirty years. Edmund knows every financial record for the same period. Between them they could destroy any reputation in the settlement, and they’re too polite to do it, which makes everyone nervous.
Hook
The money trail runs through what Edmund knows. Mullick’s consortium gives publicly and generously, and the temple at Baranagar appears in the revenue record as a charitable subscription, in the open, in print. Edmund has seen the figures for years and has never had a reason to think about them.
He will not share Company records with anyone outside the EIC. That is not obstruction, it is twenty-six years of correctness. Getting it requires trust he gives to almost nobody, or Freddy’s Board of Control paper, or Ashworth asking on their behalf.
Connections
- Harriet Courtney — his wife
- Charles Ashworth — a colleague of long standing
- Writers Building — where he has worked for twenty-six years
- Scene 06 Ashworth Dinner
In Play
Chapter 4, Session 9 (9 October 1814) — at the Magistrate’s table, and gloomy about it. He declared the loss of the Company’s trade monopoly under the new Charter Act to be doom for all of them, and was cheerfully contradicted from the far end of the table by the drunk Percy Cartwright.
His revenue records have not been raised. Thirty years of filings, never laid side by side, and the Absentee Account Pattern is in them. Still available.
Appearances
Relationships
- Married to Harriet Courtney — Twenty-six years in Bengal together
- Knows Charles Ashworth — Long-standing colleague; dines at his table
- Located at Writers Building — Revenue department