>Citation bot at 05:40, 7 April 2021

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{{Use Indian English|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
'''James Wallace Quinton''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CSI}} (1834–1891) was a British colonial administrator who served as [[Chief Commissioner of Assam]] from 1889 until his death. He was murdered by a hostile crowd whilst trying to impose British rule in the sovereign state on [[Manipur]].

==Life==
Quinton was born the son of a wine merchant in [[Enniskillen]], [[County Fermanagh]], [[Ireland]], and was educated at [[Trinity College, Dublin]], and graduated BA in 1853.<ref name=newdnb>{{Cite ODNB|title=Quinton, James Wallace (1834–1891), administrator in India|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-22968|access-date=2020-10-12|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/22968|last1=Prior|first1=Katherine}}</ref> He subsequently served as secretary and president of the [[University Philosophical Society]].<ref name=olddnb>{{Cite DNB|wstitle=Quinton, James Wallace}}</ref>

Having been appointed to the [[Bengal]] civil service in 1856, he served in the [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|North-West Provinces]] and [[Awadh|Oudh]] until 1875, when he officiated for two years as judicial commissioner in [[Burma]]. Returning to the North-West Provinces in 1877, he was appointed magistrate and collector of the [[Allahabad]] district in April 1877, and officiating civil and sessions judge in April 1878. He was on special duty in July 1878 at [[Nainital|Naini Tál]] as a member of the North-West Provinces famine commission. He afterwards served as commissioner in the [[Jhansi district|Jhánsi]] and [[Lucknow]] divisions, and in February 1883 was appointed an additional member of the governor-general's council, an office which he held in 1884, and again in 1886 and 1889. In the earlier of those years he was an ardent supporter of [[George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon|Lord Ripon]]'s policy, which the majority of Anglo-Indians strongly disapproved. In 1884 he was appointed commissioner of the [[Agra]] division, and became a member of the board of revenue in 1885. He served as a member of the public service commission in 1886. He was gazetted [[Order of the Star of India|CSI]] in 1887, and was appointed chief commissioner of Assam on 22 October 1889.<ref name=olddnb/>
[[File:Sketch map of Manipur.jpg|thumb|A sketch map of Manipur by [[Ethel Grimwood]] showing the residency and key buildings]]
In March 1891, owing to a rebellion having broken out in the small [[Manipur (princely state)|native state of Manipur]], led by two of the younger brothers of the rájá, who abdicated and took refuge at [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], Quinton was sent to Manipur with an escort of five hundred [[Ghurkhas]], and with instructions to recognise as the ruler of the state the second brother, who was acting as regent, and to arrest one of the younger brothers, [[Tikendrajit]].<ref name=newdnb/> Quinton reached Manipur on 22 March, and at once summoned a [[Durbar (court)|durbar]], at which he intended to arrest the sínapati. Tikendraji, did not attend, and upon an attempt being made on the following day to arrest him in the fort, resistance was met by the Manipur troops, and was followed by an attack upon the British residency and camp, attended by considerable slaughter. Quinton thereupon offered to treat with the rebels, and was induced to repair to the fort,<ref name=olddnb/> accompanied by [[Frank St. Clair Grimwood]],<ref name=ethel>{{Cite ODNB|title=Grimwood [née Moore; other married name Miller], Ethel Brabazon [pseud. Ethel St Clair Grimwood] (1867–1928), the heroine of Manipur|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-101006|access-date=2020-10-12|year=2010|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/101006|last1=Reynolds|first1=K. D.}}</ref> the political agent, by Colonel Skene, the officer commanding the Ghurkhas, and by two other officers, all without arms. Immediately on their arrival they were taken prisoners and murdered. Quinton's hand was cut off, his body hacked to pieces, and his dismembered limbs thrown outside the city walls to be devoured by pariah dogs. Manipur was subsequently retaken by a British force; the sínapati was hanged, and the regent deposed. A young boy belonging to the family was recognised as rájá, and during his minority the government of the state was entrusted to a British officer as political resident. Pensions of 300''l''. and 100''l''. a year respectively were granted to Quinton's widow and mother.<ref name=olddnb/> [[Ethel Grimwood]] was declared the hero of the event and she received over £1,000 and £140 per year.<ref name=ethel/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinton, James Wallace}}
[[Category:1891 deaths]]
[[Category:1834 births]]
[[Category:Administrators in British India]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Governors of Assam]]
[[Category:People from Enniskillen]]

James Wallace Quinton - Revision history

>Citation bot at 05:40, 7 April 2021