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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]]
|name = Sir Arthur Purves Phayre
|honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCMG|KCSI|CB}}
|image = Arthur Purves Phayre.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[Colesworthey Grant]] (1855)
|order = 12th
|office = Governor of British Mauritius{{!}}Governor of Mauritius
|term_start = 1874
|term_end = 1878
|monarch =
|predecessor = ''Office established''
|successor =
|order2 = 1st
|office2 = List of colonial heads of Burma{{!}}Chief Commissioner of Burma
|term_start2 = 31 January 1862
|term_end2 = 16 February 1867
|monarch2 =
|predecessor2 = ''Office established''
|successor2 = [[Albert Fytche]]
|birth_date = {{birth date|1812|05|07|df=yes}}
|birth_place = [[Shrewsbury]], Shropshire, England
|death_date = {{death date|1885|12|14|1812|05|07|df=y}}
|death_place =
|nationality = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]]
|spouse = 
|children =
|alma_mater =
|occupation = [[Administrator of the Government|Administrator]]
|religion =
| allegiance = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom]]
| branch = {{army|British India|23px}}
| serviceyears =
| rank =[[Lieutenant General]]
| servicenumber =
| unit =
| commands =
| battles =
| battles_label =
| awards =[[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]]<br>[[Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]<br>[[Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
| relations =
| laterwork =
| signature =
| website = 
}}

'''Sir Arthur Purves Phayre''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCMG|KCSI|CB}} (7 May 1812 – 14 December 1885) was a career [[British Indian Army]] officer who was the first [[Commissioner]] of [[British Burma]], 1862–1867, [[Governor]] of [[Mauritius]], 1874–1878, and author.

His brother, Sir [[Robert Phayre (British Army officer)|Robert Phayre]] (1820–1897), also served in India. They were part of the Phayre family, of which Lt Col [[Robert Phayre]], who served the British administration in Ireland in the 17th century, also had the death warrant of Charles I addressed to him and two other Colonels.

Descendants: Colonel Robert Bernard Phayre MC 2/4th Prince of Wales Own Gurkha Rifles, son Colonel Robert Desmond Hensley Phayre Royal Artillery, son Lt Col Robert (Robin) Dermot Spinks Phayre LI, cousin Col Terence Peter Phayre Knott MC RM, of whom son Captain Robert Knott AAC changed name by deed poll to Phayre, to prevent family name dying out, lives in Kenya.

==Early life==
Phayre was born in [[Shrewsbury]] and educated at [[Shrewsbury School]]. He joined the Indian Army in 1828. In 1846 he was appointed assistant to the commissioner of the province of [[Tanintharyi Region|Tenasserim]], Burma, and in 1849 he was made commissioner of [[Rakhine State|Arakan]]. After the [[Second Anglo-Burmese War]] (1852), he became commissioner of [[Bago Division|Pegu]]. He was made a Brevet Captain in 1854 and in 1862 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.

==Work==

===Government office===
In 1862 Phayre was made commissioner for the entire province of British Burma. He left Burma in 1867.

He served as 12th [[Governor of British Mauritius|Governor of Mauritius]] from 21 Sep 1874 to 31 Dec 1878.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Mauritius.htm|title=Mauritius|publisher=World Statesmen}}</ref>

He was appointed a CB in 1864, promoted to Colonel in 1866 and was knighted with the KCSI in 1867. In 1871, he was promoted to Major-General and was promoted to Lieutenant-General in 1873. He retired to [[Bray, County Wicklow|Bray]] in Ireland and was appointed a GCMG in 1878.

===Naturalist===
Phayre wrote the first standard ''History of Burma'' (1883). He is commemorated in the names of a number of animals, including:
*[[Phayre's leaf monkey]], ''Trachypithecus phayrei''
*[[Indochinese flying squirrel]], ''Hylopetes phayrei''
*[[Callosciurus#Species|Phayre's squirrel]], ''Callosciurus phayrei''
*[[Eared pitta]], ''Pitta phayrei''
*Brown Asian forest tortoise, ''[[Manouria emys|Manouria emys phayrei]]'' <ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Phayre", p. 205).</ref>
*[[Ashy-headed green pigeon]], ''Treron phayrei''

===Numismatist===
Phayre collected coins (some are now in the [[British Museum]] collection), and in 1882 wrote ''Coins of Arakan, of Pegu, and of Burma'', [[International Numismata Orientalia]], part 8. The title page notes that he was a corresponding member of the Société Académique Indo-Chinoise. He was also a member of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]].<ref>Obituary, in the JRAS Royal Asiatic Society. Proceedings of the Sixty-Third Anniversary Meeting of the Society, Held on 17 May 1886 Henry Yule The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland New Series, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Oct., 1886), pp. I-CLXIX Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25208848</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Myanmar.htm

{{S-start}}
{{S-gov}}
{{Succession box|title=[[Chief Commissioner]] of [[British Crown Colony]] of [[Burma]]|years=1862–1867|before= first incumbent |after= [[Albert Fytche]]}}
{{Succession box| before= [[Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore|Arthur Hamilton-Gordon]] | after= Sir [[George Bowen]]| title=[[Governor of British Mauritius|Governor of Mauritius]] | years=1874–1878}}
{{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phayre, Arthur Purves}}
[[Category:1812 births]]
[[Category:1885 deaths]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Governors of British Mauritius]]
[[Category:Administrators in British Burma]]
[[Category:People educated at Shrewsbury School]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Shrewsbury]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army officers]]
[[Category:Indian Army cavalry generals of World War I]]
[[Category:English naturalists]]
[[Category:19th-century naturalists]]
[[Category:British numismatists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Shrewsbury]]

Arthur Purves Phayre - Revision history

Bot at 21:04, 26 August 2022