Thomas Schmertz () was a Danish colonial official and governor of Dannemarksnagore from January 1699 to 26 July 1702.
Thomas Schmertz started as a trading assistant of the Danish East India Company in the Danish colony of Tranquebar. In 1698, he was sent to Bengal together with Andreas Andræ, negotiating the Dano-Mughal Treaty, which ended the Dano-Mughal War, and leased Dannemarksnagore to Danish India. Here, he served as governor from 1699 until he was recalled to Tranquebar in 1702 on the basis of fraud and misconduct. Consequently, Schmertz repatriated to DenmarkâÂÂNorway in 1703, but returned to Tranquebar in 1706.
Schmertz died before October 1708 in Tranquebar.
Thomas Schmertz began his career in the Danish East India Company as a trading assistant in the Danish colony of Tranquebar.
At the end of 1698, Schmertz was sent to Bengal with Andreas Andræ to negotiate with the Mughal Empire, which had been at war with Danish India since 1642. Here, they managed to conclude a treaty, establishing the Danish factory of Dannemarksnagore, at the Hooghly River in Gondalpara. The factory was provisionally a local house, although a big fort with stone walls was erected the following year. When Andræ left Dannemarksnagore in January 1699, Schmertz became the opperhoved of the colony. At that time, the colony was not properly settled and was only guarded by 30 men, although a couple of vessels regularly supplied the lodge with money and human resources from Tranquebar. During 1700, more warehouses and a tall curtain wall were erected in the colony, and the number of Danish officials increased. However, the colony had few resources, which were badly distributed among the Danish officials. According to Indian historian Lalit Mohan Mitra, Schmertz was incompetent and did little to further Danish trade in the colony.
Subsequently, Schmertz and two other assistants were recalled to Tranquebar in 1702 by the colony's Privy Council ('). Schmertz was accused of fraud and misconduct, and on 26 July 1702, he resigned as governor of Dannemarksnagore in favor of Johan Joachim Michelsen, being deemed responsible for fraudulently using a large amount of money in Dannemarksnagore; however, no evidence of this was found.
Consequently, Schmertz repatriated to DenmarkâÂÂNorway in 1703, but returned to Tranquebar in 1706. However, he was disallowed from serving in the and subsequently went to Bengal on the aboard the vessel, Gyldenløve, to gather his receivables.
Schmertz died before October 1708.
Thomas Schmertz was married to Elisabeth Søfrensen, who lived by selling beverages in Tranquebar while Schmertz was in Bengal. She continued this after Schmertz's death in 1708. Together, they had a girl, who was married to the priest of the Zion Church, Jacob Clementin. Furthermore, Schmertz had a servant, Ramma, who was caught stealing cheroots in 1695, to which Schmertz was summoned at Tranquebar's courthouse on 17 January that year.