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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Sir John Malcolm
|honorific-suffix =
|image = John Malcom 1769 1833 by Samuel Lane.jpg
|imagesize = 220px
|order = [[List of Governors of Bombay|Governor of Bombay]]
|office =
|term_start = 1 November 1827
|term_end = 1 December 1830
|monarch = [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]]<br />[[William IV of the United Kingdom|William IV]]
|governor-general = [[William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst|The Earl Amherst]]<br />[[Lord William Bentinck]]
|predecessor = [[Mountstuart Elphinstone]]
|successor = [[John FitzGibbon, 2nd Earl of Clare|The Earl of Clare]]
|birth_date = 2 May 1769
|birth_place = [[Burnfoot, Dumfries and Galloway|Burnfoot]], [[Dumfriesshire]], [[Scotland]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1833|5|30|1769|5|2}}
|death_place = [[London]], [[England]]
|occupation =[[Soldier]], [[politician|Statesman]], [[Historian]]
|alma_mater =
|nationality =[[British people|British]]
|allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}}
|branch=[[Madras Army]]
|serviceyears= 1782–1833
|rank=[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]]
|unit=
|commands=
|battles=[[Third Anglo-Mysore War]]<br />[[Fourth Anglo-Mysore War]] <br /> [[Battle of Mahidpur]]
|awards=
}}
[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] '''Sir John Malcolm''' [[Order of Bath|GCB]], [[Order of the Lion and the Sun|KLS]] (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] soldier, [[diplomat]], [[East India Company]] administrator, [[politician|statesman]], and [[historian]].

==Early life==
Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769, one of seventeen children of George Malcolm, an impoverished tenant farmer in [[Eskdale, Dumfries and Galloway|Eskdale]] in the Scottish Border country, and his wife Margaret ('Bonnie Peggy'), née [[Pasley|Pasley, the sister of Admiral]] [[Sir Thomas Pasley, 1st Baronet|Sir Thomas Pasley]]. His brothers included Sir [[James Malcolm (Royal Marines officer)|James Malcolm]],<ref>JSTOR:Obituary Notice of the Late Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Malcolm, President of the Ethnological Society | Richard Cull | Journal of the Ethnological Society of London (1848–1856), Vol.3 (1854) pp 112-114 | 1854 | Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain and Ireland [https://www.jstor.org/pss/3014137] {{verify source|date=September 2019|reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/905500461 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/859657073 cite #1 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. [[User:GreenC bot/Job 18]]}}</ref> [[Pulteney Malcolm|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.'

==Career==
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 [[Kolkata|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.<ref>Rory Muir. Wellington, The Path to Victory, 1769-1814 (2014), C H Philips, The Young Wellington in India (1973)</ref> 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, [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto|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.<ref>R M Savory. British and French Diplomacy in Iran, 1808-1810. British Institute of Iran Studies (1972)</ref>

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.<ref>A K S Lambton. Sir John Malcolm and the History of Iran. British Institute of Iran Studies (1995)</ref> 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 [[Marquis 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 Calcutte, where it was printed by order of Government.<ref>Malcolm, Central India, Preface</ref> Disappointed to being superseded for the governorship of Bombay and Madras by his juniors, Malcolm left for Britain in 1822,<ref>Parshotam Mehra: ''A Dictionary of Modern Indian History, 1707-1947''. Delhi. Bombay. Calcutta. Madras : OUP 1985, p.427-428</ref> where he lived with his family as a country gentleman, completing two more books.

In 1827 he was appointed [[List of governors of Bombay|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 Plateau|Deccan]] hinterland, newly acquired by the company from the Maratha [[Peshwa]] of [[Poona]]. In seeking to end both [[sati (practice)|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 [[Swaminarayan|Sahajanand Swami]], the founder of the [[Swaminarayan (spiritual tradition)|Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism]], who was advocating similar reforms. He has ever since been remembered in Swaminarayan literature.<ref>R Brady Williams. An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism Cambridge (2001).</ref> 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 [[Asiatic Society of Bombay|Literary Society of Bombay]]

In 1831 Malcolm finally returned to Britain, and immediately became a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for the [[rotten borough]] of [[Launceston (UK Parliament constituency)|Launceston]], supporting his friend the Duke of Wellington in opposition to the [[Reform Act 1832|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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/sir-john-malcolm#i15136 |title= Sir John Malcolm |website= Westminster Abbey|access-date=22 October 2022}}</ref> 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.
[[File:Statue of Major General Sir John Malcolm, Westminster Abbey 02.jpg|thumb|Statue of Malcolm in Westminster Abbey]]

==Family==
In 1807 he married (in Mysore) Isabella Charlotte, the second daughter of General [[Sir Alexander Campbell, 1st Baronet|Sir Alexander Campbell]]. She bore five children, including [[George Alexander Malcolm]].

==Legacy==
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 [[Colonial Service#Ranks|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, 1st Baron Metcalfe|Charles Metcalfe]], [[Alexander Burnes]] and [[Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet|Henry Rawlinson]]

==Literary works==
[[File:Malcolm Monument - geograph.org.uk - 1383313.jpg|thumb|200px|Malcolm Monument]]
Malcolm wrote nine books, plus a volume of poetry, as follows:

''Sketch of the Sikhs'', 1812<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Sketch of the Sikhs'' by Brigadier-General Sir John Malcolm|journal=The Quarterly Review|date=July 1813|volume=9|pages=472–479|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044092624576;view=1up;seq=484}}</ref>

[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001867734 ''Sketch of the Political History of India,''] 1811

''Disturbances in the Madras Army in 1809,'' 1812

[https://archive.org/details/historypersiafr01malcgoog/page/n4/mode/2up ''The History of Persia,''] 1815

[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012155288 ''A Memoir of Central India,''] 1823

''The Political History of India,'' 1826

[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008730547 ''Sketches of Persia; this book is not written by Malcolm,but by one of his companions in his mission to Iran; the writer remains anonymous and has introduced himself as the traveller;he has referred to Malcolm in his text as ilchi ,which is a Persian word means envoy of a foreign country . ,''] 1827

[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006658381 ''The Government of India,''] 1833

[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001251555 ''The Life of Robert, Lord Clive,''] 1836 (posthumous)

==References==
{{more citations needed|date=April 2015}}
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Harrington |first=Jack |year=2010 |title=Sir John Malcolm and the Creation of British India |location=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}
* {{cite book |last=Kaye |first=John W. |year=1856 |url=https://archive.org/details/lifecorresponden01kaye |title=The life and correspondence of Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G. C. B., late envoy to Persia, and governor of Bombay, from unpublished letters and journals |edition=2 volumes |volume=1 |location=London |publisher=Smith Elder and Company}}
* {{cite book |last=Kaye |first=John W. |year=1856 |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeandcorrespo06kayegoog |title=The life and correspondence of Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G. C. B., late envoy to Persia, and governor of Bombay, from unpublished letters and journals |edition=2 volumes |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=Smith Elder and Company}}
* {{cite book |last=Malcolm |first=John |year=2014 |title=Malcolm – Soldier, Diplomat, Ideologue of British India: The Life of Sir John Malcolm (1769–1833) |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Birlinn Limited |url=http://www.birlinn.co.uk/Malcolm.html}}
* {{Cite SBDEL|wstitle=Malcolm, Sir John |short=x}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Malcolm, Sir John |volume=17 |page=485|short=x}}
* [http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/malcolm_john.htm Significant Scots]
*{{Rayment-hc|external links=y|date=March 2012}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Gutenberg author|id=46717}}
* {{Hansard-contribs | sir-john-malcolm | John Malcolm }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[James Willoughby Gordon|Sir James Gordon]]
| before2 = [[James Brogden (MP)|James Brogden]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Launceston (UK Parliament constituency)|Launceston]]
| years = 1831–[[1832 United Kingdom general election|1832]]
| with = [[James Brogden (MP)|James Brogden]]
}}
{{s-aft | after = [[Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge|Sir Henry Hardinge]] }}

{{s-gov}}
{{succession box|title=[[Governor of Bombay]]|before=The Honourable [[Mountstuart Elphinstone]]|after= [[Thomas Sidney Beckwith|Sir Thomas Sidney Beckwith]] |years=1827–1830}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, John}}
[[Category:1769 births]]
[[Category:1833 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish historians]]
[[Category:Scottish politicians]]
[[Category:Governors of Bombay]]
[[Category:People from Dumfries and Galloway]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army generals]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1830–1831]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1831–1832]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Launceston]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Mysore War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Maratha War]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Burials at St James's Church, Piccadilly]]
[[Category:People of the Russo-Persian Wars]]

John Malcolm - Revision history

Bot at 06:37, 1 December 2022