Dr John Bean was also the grandfather of Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean, World War One newspaper journalist and correspondent, as well as the founder of the Australian War Memorial’s world-class museum in Canberra.

Charles also wrote the Official History of the Great War 1914-18 for the Commonwealth Government. Young Charles was born in Bathurst and initially went to his father’s All Saints’ College.

John Bean’s father was a “gentleman farmer” from Colchester in Essex, in south-east England. John was the eldest of 12 children of Samuel Edwin Bean and took his father’s middle name. His father was well-known for his horsemanship. He was hard riding and loved sports.

John Bean relinquished any military ambitions in response to pleas from his mother as she did not wish to see the youngest of her four sons become an army officer like his brothers. 

To this end, his mother saw to it that he was not brought up in his father’s house and sent him to his grandmother’s home at Brentwood, not far from London. He received his primary education before going to college, where he trained in medicine. John promised his grandmother that he would return to Brentwood to practise.

After qualifying, John became the assistant to Dr Cornelius Butler, and later his partner. Dr Butler was well-respected in his profession and was known to ride through the severest weather at any hour to visit a patient in need. He had a considerable knowledge of medicine for the time and would often, after treating the patient, kneel beside their bed to pray for their recovery.

Dr Butler had some relatives in India and his talk about them might have stirred the interest of John Bean. After making inquiries, John Bean decided that there was more money to be made overseas, so he and his wife sailed for India.

Obviously, he had heard about what was happening (one assumes from friends of Dr Butler’s). John applied for the job of assistant surgeon with the British East India Company’s Army. The British East India Company was a company of investors based in London and was sometimes referred to as “John Company”.

The British East India Company had the unusual distinction of ruling an entire country.  On December 31, 1600, the company was granted a Royal Charter for a period of 15 years by Queen Elizabeth I which effectively gave the newly created Honourable East India Company a monopoly on all trade in the East Indies. 

The company had 125 shareholders, and a capital of £72,000. Over time, the company transformed from a commercial trading venture to one which virtually ruled India as it acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions until the company’s dissolution in 1858.   

Logically, the company soon established various interests along the sea lanes from Great Britain to India. Within two decades of its establishment, the company attempted to lay claim to the Table Mountain area in South Africa and later occupied and ruled St Helena, which was later used to hold Napoleon in exile. 

From its headquarters in London, the company presided over the creation of the British Raj. 

In 1717, the company received an exemption from paying custom duties in Bengal after it received a royal dictate from the Mughal Emperor, giving the company a decided commercial advantage in the India trade. Silk, tea, cotton, saltpetre (salt) and indigo became some of the company’s main trading commodities.