William Methwold (sometimes spelled Methold), (baptised 1590 in South Pickenham, near Swaffham, Norfolk; died 5 March 1653, Kensington), was an English merchant and colonial administrator in India.
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 practiced some private trading, which was forbidden by company rules and in 1622 was recalled to England to answer charges which he freely admitted .
[1] 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.
Around this time he began to lobby for the acquisition of Bombay from the Portuguese as a supremely suitable trading centre on the west coast of India.
The company eventually acquired it in 1668 from Charles II, to whom Bombay had been ceded in his marriage to the Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza as part of her dowry.