John Proby

John Proby (c. 1698 – 15 March 1762) was an English Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire (1722–27) and Stamford (1743–47). Life Proby was the son of William Proby of Elton Hall, Huntingdonshire and formerly of Fort St George, Madras, who was son of Charles Proby, and a remote heir of Sir Peter Proby through his cousin John Proby. John Proby died in 1710, then his daughter Frances in 1711, and William Proby inherited. He was also heir to his paternal grandfather, Emmanuel Proby who was the fourth son of Sir Peter Proby. Charles Proby was a close ally of Sir Edward Winter in the power struggles in Madras of the 1660s. He predeceased Dorothy his wife, who died in 1685; he is said to have been living in 1684. He had another son, Charles, who became rector of Tewin, and there was a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Gabriel Roberts at Fort St. George in 1687. William Proby went to Fort St George, Madras as an employee of the East India Company, and was a writer there in 1683. He was secretary of the Council there in 1688, under Elihu Yale as President. In 1702 he moved to Surat, where he was second on the Council. He served in that capacity for about a decade, under Nicholas Waite, Ephraim Bendall and William Aislabie. According to Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in Madras, William Proby was discharged by the Company.