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Sir John Malcolm | |
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Governor of Bombay | |
In office 1 November 1827 –1 December 1830 | |
Monarchs | George IV William IV |
Governors‑General | The Earl Amherst Lord William Bentinck |
Preceded by | Mountstuart Elphinstone |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Clare |
Personal details | |
Born | 2 May 1769 Burnfoot,Dumfriesshire,Scotland |
Died | 30 May 1833 64) London,England | (aged
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Soldier,Statesman,Historian |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | Madras Army |
Years of service | 1782–1833 |
Rank | Major-General |
Battles/wars | Third Anglo-Mysore War Fourth Anglo-Mysore War Battle of Mahidpur |
Major-General Sir John Malcolm GCB,KLS (2 May 1769 –30 May 1833) was a Scottish soldier,diplomat,East India Company administrator,statesman,and historian.
Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769,one of seventeen children of George Malcolm,an impoverished tenant farmer in Eskdale in the Scottish Border country,and his wife Margaret ('Bonnie Peggy'),née Pasley,the sister of Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley. His brothers included Sir James Malcolm, [1] Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm and Sir Charles Malcolm. He left school,family and country at the age of thirteen,and achieved distinction in the East India Company,where he was nicknamed 'Boy Malcolm'.
Arriving at Madras in 1783 as an ensign in the East India Company's Madras Army,he served as a regimental soldier for eleven years,before spending a year in Britain to restore his health. He returned to India in 1795 as Military Secretary to General Sir Alured Clarke,participating en route in Clarke's capture of the Cape of Good Hope. In the Anglo-Mysore wars of 1799 he served with the Hyderabad contingent,and later as joint secretary of the Peace Commission setting up the new government of Mysore. Later that year he was selected by the Governor-General (Lord Mornington,later Marquess Wellesley) to lead a diplomatic mission to Iran. Following his return in 1801 he became Wellesley's private secretary,based in Calcutta (Kolkata).
In the Anglo-Maratha war of 1803–05,he accompanied Sir Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) as the Governor-General's representative and diplomatic agent;the two men forming a lifelong friendship. [2] In 1804,he was appointed British Resident at Mysore,but in 1805-6 saw further service in north India with General Lake.
In early 1808,the Governor-General,Lord Minto,sent him on a second mission to Iran,but at this time French influence was dominant in Tehran,and he was rebuffed. Later that year a separate mission from London under Sir Harford Jones arrived in Iran and achieved success,the Iran government having by then become disenchanted with the French. Malcolm was again sent to Iran in 1810,but by that time the British government had decided to conduct diplomatic relations with Iran directly from London,and appointed Sir Gore Ouseley as ambassador. [3]
In 1812,Malcolm returned to Britain for five years' furlough,and spent much of his time as a writer,completing his History of Iran (the first in English derived directly from Iran sources) in 1815. [4] For this he received an honorary DCL from the University of Oxford. Returning to India in 1817,he acted as the Governor-General's agent in negotiations leading up to the third (and last) Anglo-Maratha war. He also acted as a general,leading Company troops to victory against Maharajah Malhar Rao Holkar II at the decisive Battle of Mahidpur (Mehidpoor) on 21 December 1817. In January 1818,Malcolm was placed by the Marquess of Hastings in the military and political charge of Central India (roughly,today's Madhya Pradesh);during the four years he filled that station,his attention was directed to the object of collecting materials for the illustration of its past and present condition. The report hereof he sent to Calcutta,where it was printed by order of Government. [5] Disappointed to being superseded for the governorship of Bombay and Madras by his juniors,Malcolm left for Britain in 1822, [6] where he lived with his family as a country gentleman,completing two more books.
In 1827 he was appointed Governor of Bombay. His governorship was generally successful,despite controversy over an unfortunate quarrel with the judges of the Bombay Supreme Court,who sought to extend their jurisdiction beyond Bombay to the Deccan hinterland,newly acquired by the company from the Maratha Peshwa of Poona. In seeking to end both sati (the self-immolation of widows on their husband's funeral pyres) and female infanticide by moral persuasion,Malcolm visited Gujarat in February 1830 and met Sahajanand Swami,the founder of the Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism,who was advocating similar reforms. He has ever since been remembered in Swaminarayan literature. [7] Together with his predecessor,Mountstuart Elphinstone,he was a pioneer in the promotion of Indian education and the training of Indians for the higher ranks of government. He also served as president of the Literary Society of Bombay
In 1831 Malcolm finally returned to Britain,and immediately became a Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Launceston,supporting his friend the Duke of Wellington in opposition to the Reform Bill. He bought Warfield Hall in Berkshire from the Parry family and busied himself renovating it. His last public act was a speech in April 1833 to the Proprietors (shareholders) of the East India Company,persuading them to accept the Government's terms for renewal of its Charter. Immediately afterwards he suffered a stroke and died on 30 May 1833. He was buried in St James's Church,Piccadilly.
There is a marble statue of Malcolm,by Francis Chantrey,in the north transept of Westminster Abbey. [8] There is also a statue of him in the town hall at Bombay and a 100-foot-high obelisk celebrating his achievements on Whita Hill,above Langholm in Scotland.
In 1807 he married (in Mysore) Isabella Charlotte,the second daughter of General Sir Alexander Campbell. She bore five children,including George Alexander Malcolm.
Together with his contemporaries Mountstuart Elphinstone and Sir Thomas Munro,Malcolm was an architect of three early principles of British rule,whose wisdom "was too soon forgotten and remembered too late". Four main themes can be identified. Firstly,India was to be ruled for the benefit of the company –but also of Indians,i.e. no British settlers. Secondly,indirect rule was to be preferred,leaving existing Indian rulers in place wherever possible,with minimal disturbance of traditional methods of governance,religion and social structure. Thirdly,Malcolm helped to develop the role of the District Officer,a small group of powerful administrators with minimal overt force to support them. Fourthly,Malcolm promoted a 'forward' foreign policy;meaning diplomatic engagement with neighbouring states such as Iran,Afghanistan and Central Asia.
He was a mentor and inspiration to several celebrated Anglo-Indian statesmen –among them Henry Pottinger,Charles Metcalfe,Alexander Burnes and Henry Rawlinson
Malcolm wrote nine books,plus a volume of poetry,as follows:
Mountstuart Elphinstone was a Scottish statesman and historian,associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay where he is credited with the opening of several educational institutions accessible to the Indian population. Besides being a noted administrator,he wrote books on India and Afghanistan. His works are pertinent examples of the colonial historiographical trend.
The Maratha Confederacy,also referred to as the Maratha Empire,was an early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent Maratha states often subordinate to the former. It was established in 1674 with the coronation of Shivaji as the Maratha Chhatrapati and recognised by Emperor Bahadur Shah I as a tributary state in 1707 following a prolonged rebellion. Following this,the Marathas continued to recognise the Mughal emperor as their nominal suzerain,similar to other contemporary Indian entities,though in practice,imperial politics at Delhi were largely influenced by the Marathas between 1737 and 1803.
The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India. An outnumbered Indian and British force,under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley,defeated the combined Maratha army of Daulatrao Scindia and the Bhonsle Raja of Berar. The battle was Wellesley's first major victory and the one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield,even more so than his more famous victories in the Peninsular War,and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.
The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by British East India Company troops,and although the British were outnumbered,the Maratha army was decimated. The troops were led by Governor General Hastings,supported by a force under General Thomas Hislop. Operations began against the Pindaris,a band of Muslim mercenaries and Marathas from central India.
The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time,Mysore was a key French ally in India,and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in the American Revolutionary War influenced Anglo-Mysorean hostilities in India. The great majority of soldiers on the company side were raised,trained,paid and commanded by the company,not the British government. However,the company's operations were also bolstered by Crown troops sent from Great Britain,and by troops from Hanover,which was also ruled by Great Britain's King George III.
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Baji Rao II was the 13th and the last Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy. He governed from 1795 to 1818. He was installed as a puppet ruler by the Maratha nobles,whose growing power prompted him to flee his capital Poona and sign the Treaty of Bassein (1802) with the British. This resulted in the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805),in which the British emerged victorious and re-installed him as the titular Peshwa. In 1817,Baji Rao II joined the Third Anglo-Maratha War against the British,after they favoured the Gaekwad nobles in a revenue-sharing dispute. After suffering several battle defeats,the Peshwa surrendered to the British,and agreed to retire in return for an estate at Bithoor and an annual pension.
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