Via studying activities of William Gyfford, the first chief factor of the English East India Company’s factory in Tonkin, this research argues the significant role he played to maintain the English appearance in Tonkin in a difficult period. | HNUE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE Social Sciences 2020 Volume 64 Issue 4D pp. 46-53 This paper is available online at http WILLIAM GYFFORD AND HIS ROLE TO MAINTAIN THE ENGLISH FACTORY IN TONKIN NORTHERN VIETNAM 1672-1675 Tran Ngoc Dung Faculty of History Hanoi National University of Education Abstract. Via studying activities of William Gyfford the first chief factor of the English East India Company s factory in Tonkin this research argues the significant role he played to maintain the English appearance in Tonkin in a difficult period. By working independently and actively in both trade and diplomacy without suggestions from London or Bantam Gyfford tried to improve the English trade in Tonkin. That was the way the English learned and adapted with trading situation in long-distant area. Beyond that the paper argues the role of individuals in the English East India Company s history especially in its first century of experimentation. Keywords English East India Company Tonkin Northern Vietnam overseas factor trade diplomacy. 1. Introduction This paper examines the role of William Gyfford the chief factor of the Tonkin factory 1672-1675 in the development of the English East India Company hereafter the EIC in the seventeenth century 1 . As EIC history at this time is considered as a period of experimentation and expansion the Company needed highly-skilled servants who could work independently and effectively in Asia. Those factors with great power in Asia became the most important explanation for the EIC ability to compete with other European Companies and Chinese merchants in the region. While Kriti N. Chaudhuri and N. Ferguson argue that the English overseas factors were wholly beyond the control of London the Court of Committees and damaged the EIC trade in Asia as they worked within their kinship and friendship networks other scholars demonstrate that the activities of agents or overseas servants contributed to the EIC expansion and influence in the .
