Persian Trade, the Hydaspes-Oxus-Dwina Project, and Henry Neville (1613)

Topic: Persian Trade, the Hydaspes-Oxus-Dwina Project, and Henry Neville (1613)

Overview

This packet records a direct April 1613 calendar witness for Henry Neville's involvement in high-level discussion of an ambitious Persian and inland East Indies trade route. The proposal imagined moving traffic from the Hydaspes/Jhelum into the Oxus, Caspian, Volga, and Dwina system, ending at St Nicholas / Archangel.

The witness matters because it places Neville, by the king's command, in council conference over commercial-geopolitical schemes linking Persia, India, Muscovy, and northern sea routes. It should be used as a statecraft and company-network packet, not as proof that Neville personally invented the route.

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• The British History Online calendar entry for 29 April 1613 summarizes a letter from John Chamberlain in London to Sir Dudley Carleton.
• Chamberlain reports "many far-fetched projects" for redirecting traffic from Persia and inland East Indies through the Hydaspes/Jhelum, Oxus, Caspian Sea, Volga, a short portage to the Dwina, and then to St Nicholas / Archangel.
• Chamberlain treats the proposals skeptically as "discourses in the air."
• The same calendar entry states that Sir Henry Neville, "by the King's commands," had "much conference with the council" on these projects.
• The calendar identifies the entry as a copy in East Indies, Vol. I, No. 39, with the original in Domestic, Jac. I, Vol. LXXII, No. 120, and also points to calendar page 182.
• McClure vol. 1, printed pp. 445-446, now supplies the direct printed-letter witness for the 29 April 1613 Chamberlain-to-Carleton report. It preserves the "discourses in the ayre" skepticism and the statement that Sir Henry Nevill had much conference with the council by the king's command.
• McClure vol. 1, printed p. 448, supplies a second related Chamberlain-to-Winwood witness from 6 May 1613. It says the king caused Sir Henry Nevill to confer with some of the council several times and that Neville had "discoursed at large" about the whole trade route through Hydaspes, Oxus, Caspian, Volga, and Dwina.
• This witness is adjacent to, but not identical with, Chester Dunning's Russia Company / North Russia protectorate article. Both involve English commercial policy, Persian trade through northern routes, Russia/Muscovy interests, and Neville in high-level consultation.
• The March 1614 East India Company court minutes separately record Sir Henry Neville's admission to the Company as "a very worthy gentleman" who might do good offices for the Company.
• The same 31 March 1614 court-minute entry also mentions lending ordnance to the Muscovy Company, which is useful company-world context but not proof that the East India Company and Russia Company evidence are interchangeable.
• The May 1614 East India Company court minutes record half of Sir Henry Neville's 800l. adventure in the joint stock being set over to Sir James Stonehouse.

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• No Ken Feinstein Twitter/blog material is isolated in this packet at present. This packet is currently built from BHO calendar witnesses and related local topic packets.

3. Quoted Source Text

Chamberlain to Carleton, 29 April 1613

• "Many far-fetched projects"
• "the traffic of Persia and the inland parts of the East Indies"
• "up the river Hydaspes [Jhylum] into the Oxus"
• "into the Dwina that comes to St. Nicholas or Archangel"
• "discourses in the air"
• "Sir Henry Neville has had, by the King's commands, much conference with the council upon them"
• "discourses in the ayre"
• "caused Sir Henry Nevill to confer"
• "discoursed at large"
• "the whole trade of Persia and the inland parts of the East Indies"

East India Company court minutes, 31 March 1614

• "Sir Henry Neville, knowing him to be a very worthy gentleman"
• "may do many good offices for the good of the Company"
• "About lending ordnance to the Muscovy Company"

East India Company court minutes, 19 May 1614

• "Half of Sir Henry Neville's adventure of 800 l. in the joint stock to be set over to Sir Jas. Stonehouse."

4. Citations

• "East Indies: April 1613," in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, East Indies, China and Japan, Volume 2, 1513-1616, ed. W. Noel Sainsbury (London, 1864), British History Online, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/east-indies-china-japan/vol2/p252 [accessed 1 May 2026].
• Chamberlain, John. The Letters of John Chamberlain. Edited by Norman Egbert McClure, vol. 1, American Philosophical Society, 1939, pp. 445-446, 448, letters dated London, 29 April 1613 and 6 May 1613. Local PDF: uc1-32106005854481-1782657835.pdf.
• "East Indies: March 1614," in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, East Indies, China and Japan, Volume 2, 1513-1616, ed. W. Noel Sainsbury (London, 1864), British History Online, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/east-indies-china-japan/vol2/pp279-289 [accessed 1 May 2026].
• "East Indies: May 1614," in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, East Indies, China and Japan, Volume 2, 1513-1616, ed. W. Noel Sainsbury (London, 1864), British History Online, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/east-indies-china-japan/vol2/pp293-296 [accessed 1 May 2026].
• Dunning, Chester. "James I, the Russia Company, and the Plan to Establish a Protectorate Over North Russia." Albion, vol. 21, no. 2, Summer 1989, pp. 206-226. Staged PDF: Neville_Russia.pdf.
• east_india_company.md, related East India Company packet.
• russia_company_north_russia_protectorate.md, related Russia Company / North Russia packet.

5. Notes on Access

• The BHO April 1613 entry is a calendar summary, but McClure vol. 1 now gives the full printed-letter control for the same Chamberlain-to-Carleton report and the related Chamberlain-to-Winwood report. Manuscript-level verification still requires the Domestic original or East Indies copy.
• The local Chamberlain PDF currently found at [local source path removed] is Letters written by John Chamberlain during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and does not contain the 1613 Jacobean letter.
• The route proposal should be distinguished from Neville's direct East India Company admission and investment entries in 1614. The evidence belongs to the same broad commercial-statecraft network, but the April 1613 letter is about policy consultation over a northern route, not simply about Neville's personal EIC investment.