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{{EngvarB|date=August 2019}}
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'''Josias Du Pre''' (also Du Pré, Dupré or Dupre) (1721–1780) was a London merchant, a director of the [[East India Company]] and [[Governor of Madras]].<ref name="Love">{{cite book|author=Henry Davidson Love|title=Indian Records Series Vestiges of Old Madras|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2nkEiSSDaYC&pg=PA1|accessdate=20 April 2012|publisher=Mittal Publications|pages=1–3|id=GGKEY:GE1U0JNYH0Q}}</ref>

==Life==
[[File:Wilton Park Estate.jpg|thumb|Wilton Park House]]
Du Pre was born in South Carolina, the son of Cornelius Dupre. He joined the civil service of the East India Company in 1752, as a factor, and rose through a succession of positions. He spent a period in England in the 1760s, and married there.<ref name="Love"/> He purchased the [[Wilton Park Estate]] near Beaconsfield in [[Buckinghamshire]] from the Basil family in 1760,<ref name=HoP/> or around 1770.<ref name=VCH>'Parishes: Beaconsfield', A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3 (1925), pp. 155-165. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42542 Date accessed: 20 April 2012.</ref>

Du Pre was Governor of Madras from 1770 to 1773. He was mostly preoccupied with the construction of fortifications there. His authority was circumscribed: [[Eyre Coote (East India Company officer)|Eyre Coote]], the military commander, and [[Sir John Lindsay]] who had overall command in the East Indies, left him little room in which to operate.<ref name="Love"/>

Once back in England he commissioned [[Richard Jupp]] to build a mansion at Wilton Park. Known as the "White House", it was completed in 1779.<ref name="Bull">{{cite news |last1=Bull |first1=Clare |title=Wilton Park |url=https://www.beaconsfieldhistory.org.uk/content/beaconsfield-history/the-great-houses/wilton-park |accessdate=20 May 2019 |work=Beaconsfield and District Historical Society}}</ref>

Du Pre at the end of his life became a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]],<ref> {{cite web|url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27Dupre%27%29|title=Fellow Details|publisher= Royal Society|accessdate= 19 May 2019}} </ref> owing the honour to his appointment two decades earlier of [[Alexander Dalrymple]] as his deputy.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Christa Jungnickel|author1-link=Christa Jungnickel|author2=Russell McCormmach|author2-link=Russell McCormmach|title=Cavendish: The Experimental Life|url=https://archive.org/details/cavendishexperim00jung|url-access=registration|accessdate=20 April 2012|year=1999|publisher=Bucknell University Press|isbn=978-0-8387-5445-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/cavendishexperim00jung/page/264 264]}}</ref>

He died at Wilton Park in 1780.<ref name=VCH/>

==Family==

He married Rebecca Alexander, daughter of Nathaniel Alexander and sister of [[James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon]], another [[nabob]]: [[Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon]], son of the first Earl, was named after Josias.<ref>{{ODNBweb|id= 93359|title=Alexander, Du Pre|first=P. J.|last=Jupp}}</ref>

Of the children of Josias and Rebecca:

* [[James Du Pre]] was a Member of Parliament.<ref name=HoP>[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/du-pratilde-james-1778-1870 historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Du Pré, James (1778–1870), of Wilton Park, Beaconsfield, Bucks''.]</ref>
* Eliza married Colonel Brice, and then Rev. John Blackwood, son of [[Sir John Blackwood, 2nd Baronet]].<ref>[http://thepeerage.com/p40484.htm#i404832 thepeerage.com, ''Eliza Dupré''.]</ref>
* Rebecca married [[Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 9th Baronet]]; [[Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 10th Baronet]] was their son.

Josias Du Pre's sister Esther married Paul Porcher, and was mother of the MP [[Josias Du Pré Porcher]].<ref>[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/porcher-josias-du-pratildecopy-1761-1820 historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Porcher, Josias Du Pré (?1761–1820), of Hillingdon House, Mdx. and Winslade House, Devon''.]</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{Succession box | title= [[Governor of Madras]]
| before= [[Charles Bourchier (governor)|Charles Bourchier]]
| after= [[Alexander Wynch]]
| years=1770–1773}}
{{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Du Pre, Josias}}
[[Category:1721 births]]
[[Category:1780 deaths]]
[[Category:English merchants]]
[[Category:Directors of the British East India Company]]
[[Category:Governors of Madras]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]

Josias Du Pre - Revision history

>WikiCleanerBot at 08:23, 26 November 2020