Edward Gryffydh Peacock (30 July 1825 – 4 January 1867) was an English official of the East India Company, publisher, writer and rower who won the Wingfield Sculls and Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta.
The East India Company (EIC), also known as the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) or the British East India Company and informally as John Company, Company Bahadur, or simply The Company, was an English and later British joint-stock company. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with Mughal India and the East Indies, and later with Qing China. The company ended up seizing control over large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia, and colonised Hong Kong after a war with Qing China.
The Wingfield Sculls is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames in London, England, on the 4 1⁄4 miles (6.8 km) Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake.
The Diamond Challenge Sculls is a rowing event for men's single sculls at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. First run in 1844, it is open to male scullers from all eligible rowing clubs.
Peacock was the son of the poet Thomas Love Peacock and his wife Jane Gryffydh. [1] In 1841 he was appointed midshipman in the Indian Navy. He arrived in India in October 1841 [2] but returned to England for medical reasons in April 1842. In 1844 he became a clerk in the examiners office at East India House. [3] He collaborated with George Meredith in publishing a privately circulated literary magazine, the Monthly Observer. [4]
Thomas Love Peacock was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work. Peacock wrote satirical novels, each with the same basic setting: characters at a table discussing and criticising the philosophical opinions of the day.
George Meredith, OM was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.
Peacock was a member of Thames Club and in 1845 was runner up in the Silver Wherries at Henley Royal Regatta partnering Henry Chapman. [5] In 1849 he won the Silver Wherries partnering Francis Playford. He won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley in 1851 defeating Edward Macnaghten in the final. In 1852 positions were reversed and Peacock came second to MacNaughton. Peacock won the Wingfield Sculls in 1852. [6]
The Thames Club was an English rowing club based on the Tideway of the River Thames that competed in the middle of the 19th century.
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the three other regattas rowed over approximately the same course, Henley Women's Regatta, Henley Masters Regatta and Henley Town and Visitors' Regatta, each of which is an entirely separate event.
Henry Chapman was an English 19th century rower who four times won the Wingfield Sculls, the amateur championship of the River Thames.
Meredith is said to have based his character Edward Blancove in Rhoda Fleming on Peacock. Like Blancove, Peacock studied as a barrister and was a keen boxer. [3]
In 1865 Peacock qualified as a solicitor. However he died two years later at the age of 42. His poem The Vicar of Southbury's story: a Christmas poem was published posthumously in 1867.
Peacock married Mary Hall in 1849, apparently to the disapproval of his father. They had a son Thomas Love Peacock. [3] She remarried in 1869. [7] Peacock's widowed sister Mary Ellen Nicolls married George Meredith. [4]
