William Hornby joined the
East India Company as a writer (clerk) in 1740, and rose to become Governor of Bombay in 1771. As Governor of Bombay, he is best remembered by the
Vellard north of
Cumballa Hill which was constructed at his behest against the wishes of the
British East India Company. One of the first large works of civil engineering in the city, it transformed the geography of the islands by opening up the low-lying marshy areas of
Mahalaxmi and
Kamathipura for inhabitation on its completion in 1784. He was also the first governor to move his official residence from the Fort area to
Parel. In a sense, this was also to change the demographics of the city by starting a northward move. An intriguing dead-end of information is the statement attributed to John Murray, that "The Hornby diamond, brought from the East Indies by the Hon. William Hornby,
Governor of Bombay, in 1775, weighs 36 carats [7.2 g], and is now, I believe, the property of the
Shah of Persia." ==Return==