Suetonius Grant Heatly
[1] Heatly was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in what is now the United States, to a family that had a Scottish heritage.and was loyal to the British Crown.
Calcutta, Bengal and send them to be forwarded to me, to the care of Mr. Wilkinson, London; never failing to address me as your Supercargo, because if the letters are intercepted no mischief can ensue.
[8] Kautilya recorded mining activities in India around 400 BCE, in his Arthashastra but these operations related to precious stones and metals rather than coal.
[9] The first documented discovery of coal was in 1774, when Heatly and Sumner (another colonial administrator) saw it being used to create fires while they were travelling on the Damodar River.
[9] J. Homfray, the manager of a colliery at Narayankuri and the first person to write a detailed account of the Raniganj Coalfield,[10] says that the area was at that time under the rule of the Rajah of Ramghur and that ... it is an historical fact, that Mr Heatly, at that time being politically employed by Government, captured the Rajah, and probably obtained a knowledge of the existence of coal through some attendant circumstances ...[11] On 11 August 1774 they put forward a proposal for commercial extraction in a part of what now forms the Raniganj Coalfield.
[13][b] They wrote to Warren Hastings, the Governor-General, requesting That an exclusive right be granted to us for eighteen years of working coal mines and selling coal in Bengal and its dependencies, so long as we can engage to furnish as much pit-coal as ever the Government may bespeak of us for their consumption at the market price of the time, when wanted.
[13]The proposal discussed the possibility of exports[14] and included the stipulation that they would retain the rights to any other minerals and metals discovered in the area on payment of a 20% royalty to the Company, a figure which also applied to the coal.
[14] An agreement was reached by October 1774, by which time a third person, called Redfearne (sometimes, Redferne), had joined in business with Heatly and Sumner.
[4][17] These tests were delayed, at least in part because the partners in the business were also engaged in their duties on behalf of the East India Company.
[3] These were all additional issues, on top of the loss of the East India Company as a potentially large purchaser, and the venture petered out.
[25] In 1884 and 1885, long after his death, notices appeared in The London Gazette advising that he was among a group of people who had not claimed shares in the British Fisheries Society and giving his position as Collector of Purnia.
