Sir John Malcolm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 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(1833-05-30) (aged 64) London,England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Soldier,Statesman,Historian |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| 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-GeneralSir John MalcolmGCB,KLS (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was aScottish soldier,diplomat,East India Company administrator,statesman, andhistorian.
Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769, one of seventeen children of George Malcolm, an impoverished tenant farmer inEskdale in the Scottish Border country, and his wife Margaret ('Bonnie Peggy'), néePasley, the sister of AdmiralSir Thomas Pasley. His brothers included SirJames Malcolm,[1]Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm and SirCharles Malcolm. He left school, family and country at the age of thirteen, and achieved distinction in theEast India Company, where he was nicknamed 'Boy Malcolm'.
Arriving atMadras in 1783 as an ensign in theEast 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 SirAlured Clarke, participating en route in Clarke's capture of theCape of Good Hope.In theAnglo-Mysore wars of 1799 he served with theHyderabad contingent, and later as joint secretary of the Peace Commission setting up the new government ofMysore. 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 inCalcutta (Kolkata).
In the Anglo-Maratha war of 1803–05, he accompaniedSir 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 toIran, but at this time French influence was dominant inTehran, 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 withIran directly from London, and appointedSir 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 hisHistory of Iran (the first in English derived directly from Iran sources) in 1815.[4] For this he received an honorary DCL from theUniversity 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 MaharajahMalhar Rao Holkar II at the decisiveBattle of Mahidpur (Mehidpoor) on 21 December 1817. In January 1818, Malcolm was placed by theMarquess of Hastings in the military and political charge of Central India (roughly, today'sMadhya 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 appointedGovernor 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 theDeccan hinterland, newly acquired by the company from the MarathaPeshwa ofPoona. In seeking to end both sati (the self-immolation of widows on their husband's funeral pyres) and female infanticide by moral persuasion, Malcolm visitedGujarat in February 1830 and metSahajanand Swami, the founder of theSwaminarayan 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 theLiterary Society of Bombay
In 1831 Malcolm finally returned to Britain, and immediately became aMember of Parliament for therotten borough ofLaunceston, supporting his friend the Duke of Wellington in opposition to theReform Bill. He boughtWarfield Hall inBerkshire 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 inSt James's Church, Piccadilly.
There is a marble statue of Malcolm, byFrancis Chantrey, in the north transept ofWestminster 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, aboveLangholm in Scotland.
In 1807 he married (in Mysore) Isabella Charlotte, the second daughter of GeneralSir Alexander Campbell. She bore five children, includingGeorge Alexander Malcolm.
Together with his contemporariesMountstuart Elphinstone andSir 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 theDistrict 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 andCentral Asia.
He was a mentor and inspiration to several celebrated Anglo-Indian statesmen – among themHenry Pottinger,Charles Metcalfe,Alexander Burnes andHenry Rawlinson
Malcolm wrote nine books, plus a volume of poetry, as follows:
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "John Malcolm" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
"Malcolm, Sir John",A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910 – viaWikisource
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLaunceston 1831–1832 With:James Brogden | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by The HonourableMountstuart Elphinstone | Governor of Bombay 1827–1830 | Succeeded by |
