John Charles Mason

Who was John Charles Mason?

John Charles Mason, British East India Company servant, marine secretary to the Indian government.

Mason, born in London in March 1798, was the only son of Alexander Way Mason, chief clerk in the secretary's office of the East India Company's home service, and one of the founders and editors of the ‘East India Register’ in 1803. His grandfather, Charles Mason, served with distinction in the expedition to Guadeloupe in 1758–9, and with the allied army in Germany in 1762 and in 1793–6.

John Charles was educated at Monsieur de la Pierre's commercial school in Hackney and at Lord Weymouth's grammar school at Warminster. For three years he served in the office of Dunn, Wordsworth, & Dunn, solicitors, 32 Threadneedle Street, till in April 1817 he received an appointment in the secretary's office at the East India House on the ground of his father's services—a unique episode in the history of the company's patronage.