Edward Michelborne
Sir Edward Michelborne (c. 1562 − 1609), sometimes written Michelbourn, was an English soldier, adventurer and explorer. After a military career in the 1590s he tried to be appointed 'principal commander' for the first voyage of the East India Company (EIC), but was rebuffed. He subsequently became an interloper with the personal approval of King James I and set out to the far east in December 1604. Indulging in plunder as well as seeking out trade, his activities upset the EIC who complained to the Privy Council about his interloping, following his return to England in 1606. Early life Edward was the eldest son of Edward Michelborne (d. 1587), a landowner, of Clayton, West Sussex and his first wife Jane Parsons of Steyning, Sussex. In 1565 the family moved into the newly built Hammonds Place Farmhouse, in neighbouring Burgess Hill. He was captain in the Low Countries in 1591, and was continued in the queen's pay till September 1598, in which year he commanded a company of foot in Ostend, but he is not named on any service, except as commanding the ship Moon on the Islands Voyage, under Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, in 1597. In 1593 he represented